Konosuke Takeshita may not be going to Wrestle Kingdom after all.
The former NEVER Openweight Champion won the 2025 G1 Climax tournament a couple of weeks ago and he was destined to challenge the world champion at the company’s biggest show of the year. However, Takeshita has opted to cash in on his title opportunity and he will now get his chance at the IWGP World Heavyweight title at the King of Pro Wrestling pay-per-view on October 13th.
Takeshita’s opponent could be Zack Sabre Jr or Ren Narita. Takeshita beat Narita to get into the quarter finals. The 30-year-old also beat the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion to advance into the finals. But Zack Sabre Jr does own a victory over Takeshita early in the G1 Climax tournament. This is pure speculation, but it’s likely that Zack and Takeshita will finish off their trilogy at King of Pro Wrestling. Again though, that’s pure speculation on my end.
Zack and Narita will have their IWGP World Heavyweight title match at Destruction in Kobe on September 28th. Thus far, Takeshita is the only wrestler confirmed for the upcoming pay-per-view.
This is the second year in a row where a G1 Climax winner has used their title match early. That puts the plans for Wrestle Kingdom 20 into question. Though there was never a guaranteed world title match rumored for the big event, it’s interesting that New Japan felt that they needed to give away the G1 contendership early instead of waiting.
Does this mean that Zack or Narita will remain champion after King of Pro Wrestling? Or are they trying to get the belt on Takeshita as soon as possible? It’s definitely a toss up on what NJPW officials will do. Zack won the title back in June, but that doesn’t mean his championship run can’t come to an end early. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens on October 13th between Zack and Narita at Destruction of Kobe. Who do you think is going to win?
One thing’s guaranteed, this should be a strong main event. Takeshita had excellent matches against Narita and Zack Sabre Jr, so there’s really no wrong choice in terms of quality.