AEW confirmed Okada’s absence on the May 9th 2026 edition of Collision. In his place, Darby will now defend the title against Konosuke Takeshita on this Wednesday’s Dynamite, while MJF remains in line for a future championship opportunity.

Don Callis stated the following in a promo that aired on Collision…

“Okada has had to go to Japan to take care of some very important family business. But don’t worry, lads, because I have someone in mind to take his spot this Wednesday in the world title match, and he is none other than the firstborn of the Don Callis family, Konosuke Takeshita, the Alpha.

You’re gonna be the world champion if you listen to me like you always have. You you will be successful and you will finally fulfill the destiny that I had for you when I plucked you out of obscurity and made you the replacement to Kenny Omega. You’re the best wrestler in the world when you’ve got my game plan in your head. Go win the title!”

Moments before the #AEW World Title match, @TheDonCallis delivers a reminder – and with @rainmakerXokada in Japan for family business, his hand-picked challenger is waiting in the wings: Konosuke Takeshita!

Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TBS + HBO Max pic.twitter.com/cA5vxnJepC

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 10, 2026

The post News regarding Konosuke Takeshita replacing Kazuchika Okada in AEW world title match appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

“I bet you all that konnan, or whatever his name was, can’t last 10 sec with Takeshita.”

I bet you all that konnan, or whatever his name was , can’t last 10 sec with @Takesoup

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) February 14, 2023

Konnan tweeted that his comments were meant to be a joke…

“the Takeshita thing was a joke, like im really gonna get mad over him doing a frog splash, everyone does it. if u actually believe I was hot, jokes on u..”

the Takeshita thing was a joke, like im really gonna get mad over him doing a frog splash, everyone does it.
if u actually believe I was hot, jokes on u..

— Konnan (@Konnan5150) February 14, 2023

its a joke, snowflake

— Konnan (@Konnan5150) February 14, 2023

The post AEW star fires back at Konnan over comment made towards Konosuke Takeshita appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

“Well Takeshita… he’s got heat with me and he’s lucky I wasn’t in El Paso. Because when he went up and he did the fu*king Eddie Guerrero thing for the frog splash, you’re not Mexican dude, I don’t care… Stick to your nationality.”

“I’m still not on the Takeshita bandwagon, probably because I think I heard so many great things about him and are expecting something better, you know?” (quotes courtesy of Sportskeeda.com)

The post Former WCW star addresses Konosuke Takeshita and says “stick to your nationality” appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

From WCW you had Stunning Steve Austin, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Cactus Jack, Rey Misterio (that’s how WCW spelt it) and many more that had virtually had no name value in America coming into the company.

On the WWF (what WWE was called before losing a fight to a Panda) side you had Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz, Diesel, The Undertaker and a young fella then known as Rocky Maivia. If you have to google who that is then you cannot call yourself a wrestling fan. All of whom went on to become Legends.

I remember watching all these guys growing up and not once did I ever say “who the hell is that and why should I care.” Instead I was more intrigued by this new character on my screen and excited to see what they could do. Somewhere along the way some fans have lost this giddy excited feeling of something new, instead some use it as fuel to the fire of a non existing war between promotions.

I will be the first one to admit that I did not watch much wrestling outside the WWE bubble up until 2019 when AEW came along. I was aware of ROH, Impact and NJPW, but I never really gave much effort into watching them until AEW peaked my interest. The look and feel of the promotion was so different to WWE at the time I found myself drawn to it each week. There was one problem though, aside from some of the bigger names I really had no idea who half of these guys and gals were. Google and YouTube are wonderful things people.

AEW is still a new company that is building it’s brand, They do this by doing a couple of things. They bring in established high profile talent from WWE, then people complain that they are using too many ex WWE guys. Or they bring in new young talent from the indies and around the world, then people complain they have no idea who they are. it’s a lose lose situation. But the biggest complaint from these two is the not knowing new talent. As I said above though, Google and YouTube are wonderful things and we can use these tools to research the new talent. Problem solved!

If only it was that easy right? well it is but people would lead you to believe it’s not, as they enjoy the “us vs them” narrative too much. Two of my favorite wrestlers at the moment are Daniel Garcia and Konosuke Takeshita. I didn’t have a scooby-doo who these guys were when they first appeared for AEW, but I was able to use the power of the internet to familiarize myself with them. I invested time and patience in getting to know these guys. Now before you jump on me and say “well that’s easy if you watch all the time, but what about the casual fan?” To that I say there is no such thing as a casual fan, there are fans of different types of pro wrestling and then there are fans of WWE. Don’t get it twisted, you can enjoy it all, and many do.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking just one promotion, I get it! WWE is convenient, and it has been pretty much the only game in town for the last 20 years. That is not a good enough reason though to bicker about talent you are not familiar with, not when everyone literally has the internet in their pockets. Are promotions like AEW, Impact, New Japan, GCW PWG and others for everyone? no, but they don’t have to be. Just like WWE isn’t for everyone, but the fear that the monopoly WWE once had on wrestling is over is very real. This is in my opinion why some people lash out at unfamiliar talent, they do not want to except the fact that better wrestling CAN happen outside of their WWE bubble.

Before AEW, I was a massive fan of NXT. It gave me more of what I liked, Longer matches with more athleticism on display that made my jaw drop. Did I know who Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens were? Not really. Did I research them? You bet your sweet buns I did. Now that I have seen their previous work before coming to WWE it has made me more of a fan of theirs. It really is that simple! So please stop complaining of being unfamiliar with talent and do some research, or just go back under your bridge.

The post Give “unknowns” a chance and stop complaining appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

“32 matches. Of those, 29 were single matches (!?) It was four months that I grew so much that I felt like I was in the Room of Spirit and Time! It is a miracle that there were no injuries or flight troubles! Thank god for wrestling.”

32試合。うち29試合シングルマッチ（！？）精神と時の部屋に入ってたんじゃないかってくらい成長できた4ヶ月でした！怪我もフライトトラブルも一度もなかったのが奇跡！プロレスの神様ありがとう。#ddtpro

— Konosuke Takeshita 竹下幸之介 (@Takesoup) August 14, 2022

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com noted that WWE “is looking for a big Japanese guy as we speak” and Takeshita “is exactly what they’re looking for.”

While speaking to Cultaholic.com following PROGRESS Wrestling’s show in Newcastle, United Kingdom, Takeshita addressed the matter…

“To be honest, now I’m not interested in WWE. My next goal is more fights in AEW I hope. So I have to go to back to Japan in August and September. Maybe, not decided yet, I hope I go back to America in October. Then if I stay in the US I can come to the UK more times. From Japan to the UK is so far but US to UK is maybe seven hours. It’s possible.”

The post Konosuke Takeshita addresses report that WWE is interested in signing him appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.