Konosuke Takeshita

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Konosuke Takeshita
Konosuke Takeshita.jpg
Takeshita in August 2012
Birth name Konosuke Takeshita
Born (1995-05-29) May 29, 1995 (age 29)[1]
Osaka, Osaka[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Konosuke Takeshita
Billed height 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Billed weight 99 kg (218 lb)[1]
Trained by Dramatic Dream Team[2]
Debut August 18, 2012[1]

Konosuke Takeshita (竹下　幸之介 Takeshita Kōnosuke?, born May 29, 1995)[1] is a Japanese professional wrestler, who has worked for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) since his debut in August 2012. Dubbed the "Future of DDT", Takeshita was named the Rookie of the Year by Tokyo Sports in 2013. He is the youngest KO-D Openweight Champion in history, having won the title on his 21st birthday, and has also held the KO-D Tag Team Championship, the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship and the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship.

Professional wrestling career

Dramatic Dream Team (2011–present)

Takeshita, with a sports background in track and field, began training for a career in professional wrestling in 2011 with the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion. On April 1, 2012, DDT announced that Takeshita would be debuting for the promotion on August 18 in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan.[2] Prior to his debut match, Takeshita took part in exhibition matches.[3] During one of these matches on August 4, Takeshita scored an upset win over Hiroshi Fukuda, winning the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship in the process.[4] The title had a 24/7 rule, where it could be won anytime and anywhere.[5] As Takeshita was being congratulated by DDT general manager Amon Tsurumi for winning his first match before his debut, Fukuda hit him with a low blow and then pinned him to regain the title.[4]

On August 18, 2012, Takeshita was defeated by El Generico in his official debut match.[1][6] On November 25, Takeshita pinned Poison Sawada Julie in his retirement match, a six-man tag team match.[7] At the end of 2013, Tokyo Sports named Takeshita Japanese professional wrestling's Rookie of the Year, with him becoming the first wrestler still in high school to win the award.[8] He also finished second in Wrestling Observer Newsletter's award category for Rookie of the Year, losing to Yohei Komatsu by four votes (906–902).[9]

Takeshita in November 2014

On January 26, 2014, Takeshita received his first-ever shot at one of the King of DDT (KO-D) titles, when he and Tetsuya Endo challenged for the KO-D Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, which was won by the Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi and also included Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto.[10][11] On May 6, Takeshita came together with Antonio Honda to form the "Happy Motel" stable.[1] The two were eventually joined by Tetsuya Endo, with whom they went on to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship by defeating Shuten-dōji (Kudo, Masa Takanashi and Yukio Sakaguchi) on July 13.[1] They lost the title back to Shuten-dōji seven days later.[12]

On August 17, Takeshita took part in a high-profile interpromotional match, when he was defeated by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) representative Hiroshi Tanahashi at DDT's annual Ryōgoku Kokugikan event.[13][14] On September 28, Takeshita and Endo defeated Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time.[1][15] Afterwards, Omega dubbed Takeshita the "Future of DDT".[1] Takeshita and Endo went on to lose the title to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi on February 15, 2015.[1][16] The following June, Takeshita made it to the finals of the 2015 King of DDT tournament, but was defeated there by Yukio Sakaguchi.[1][17] On December 23, Takeshita and Endo defeated Shigehiro Irie and Yuji Okabayashi in the finals of a tournament to regain the vacant KO-D Tag Team Championship.[1][18]

With Kudo sidelined with an injury and Kota Ibushi announcing his resignation from DDT, Takeshita was poised to take a larger role in the promotion.[18][19] On January 3, 2016, he received his first shot at DDT's top title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Isami Kodaka.[1] On March 21, Takeshita and Endo lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Daisuke Sasaki and Shuji Ishikawa.[1] On May 29, his 21st birthday, Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time.[20][21] With the win, Takeshita became the youngest KO-D Openweight Champion in history,[22] beating the previous record held by Nosawa Rongai by three years and six months.[19]

Personal life

In February 2014, Takeshita was admitted into the Nippon Sport Science University.[23] In June 2014, he signed with the Oscar talent agency.[24] His hobbies include weightlifting and bodybuilding.[19] Takeshita has stated that his goal was to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics as a decathlete.[25]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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