NJPW Boss Takaaki Kidani Believes This AEW Star Could Become His Company's 'Main Wrestler'

NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani has high hopes for Japanese star Konosuke Takeshita, who this weekend announced that he has signed a deal with NJPW. 

Takeshita, who debuted in AEW in 2021 and signed a deal with the promotion a year later, is currently contracted to three promotions – DDT Pro-Wrestling, AEW, and now NJPW. Following the Wrestle Kingdom pay-per-view, Kidani, in an interview with "Tokyo Sports," stated that the 29-year-old star has signed a one-year deal with NJPW and that he has the potential to become a main star in the promotion.

"I think it's a one-year contract to start with, but there aren't many matches in AEW. If he wants to be the main wrestler for New Japan, that could actually happen. I think it would be fine for him to go back and forth. There are quite a few wrestlers like that," he said. [The quote has been roughly translated from Japanese]

AEW and NJPW have a strong working relationship, with many stars wrestling in either promotion, while the two promotions also host the co-branded Forbidden Door pay-per-view, aside from the Wrestle Dynasty pay-per-view that debuted this past weekend.

Takeshita made his first appearance at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom pay-per-view last weekend, where he defeated Shingo Takagi to become the NEVER Openweight Champion, following which he revealed that he had signed with NJPW. The Japanese star hadn't featured in NJPW until last year's Forbidden Door pay-per-view as he had been associated with DDT Pro-Wrestling since 2012. The AEW star wrestled for the second time in NJPW at last year's Forbidden Door show and later in the year took part in the G1 Climax, losing to Yota Tsuji in the quarter-finals.