Dramatic DDT

NJPW “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING 2025”, 13/10/2025
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
5,372 Fans

9. IWGP World Heavyweight Title: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (c) with the Wagamama (31:16).
*Zack Sabre Jr. fails in V3. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA becomes the 14th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion!

He did it! After winning the G1 Climax during the summer, Konosuke Takeshita has now taken the next step up and has won the IWGP World Heavyweight Title! He went into today’s show having a 1-1 singles record with Zack Sabre Jr. coming out of the G1. Now was the big rubber match with New Japan’s top championship on the line. Sabre tried to break Takeshita down limb by limb and the damage he inflicted prevented Takeshita from capitalizing on some possible comebacks. However he was able to survive being tangled into submission holds and relied on those big impact moves to take their toll on Sabre. With both wrestlers reaching their limit, a spent Takeshita took Sabre’s wind out of his sails with German Suplexes before catching him unaware with a Reverse Hurricanrana. Takeshita then decided to pull down his own kneepad and hit a raw Wagamama knee strike that kept Sabre down for the pin count.

While Takeshita was making a promise to Sabre after the match about protecting the IWGP Title, he noticed the reaction in Sumo Hall to his victory was mixed. Takeshita acknowledged there are New Japan fans who aren’t happy to see him become the champion and is certain some of the wrestlers in the company feel the same way. He called for anyone to come down and challenge him. Hirooki Goto answered the call and entered the ring. Goto said Takeshita knew this would be coming because he wants to win the IWGP Title again. Takeshita was surprised to see Goto because he expected one of the younger NJPW wrestlers to challenge him first. However he has unfinished business with Goto from last year’s G1 tournament and he is not going to start following Goto’s revolution, so he accepts the challenge. Backstage Takeshita told reporters that winning the championship is not his end goal. He wants to defend the championship at the Tokyo Dome but is not taking that position for granted. That’s why he wants his title defence against Goto to take place before “WRESTLE KINGDOM 20”.

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Can you guess how much I’m beaming with joy right now? I’ve been following this guy’s career since the beginning so to see him go from winning the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title in DDT before his debut to winning the IWGP Title in New Japan just has me feeling delighted right now. But there’s quite a number of NJPW fans out there who aren’t in a celebratory mood over this result like I am. NJPW has had a cold year and Takeshita’s presence when he is there isn’t doing anything to help warm it up. One common complaint are that it’s because he only shows up for the big events and is nowhere to be seen on the tour loops. Another is that Takeshita’s presentation hasn’t caught on with the fans. Try as he might to act like he’s about to be crowned Japan’s next big star, he still comes off as an outsider to the company’s fanbase. An obvious answer to this problem is to lean into that and have Takeshita play the role of the new boss monster for NJPW’s stars to eventually take down. But New Japan themselves haven’t committed to that idea ever since the halfway point of the G1 when Takeshita switched to acting more like a face wanting to unite the wrestling world instead of dominating it all as “The Alpha”.

Takeshita as IWGP Champion is also now the focal point of an issue that is dividing two specific fanbases, the relationship between New Japan and AEW. How far you lean into being a fan of one or the other opens up different paths. For the AEW fan there is fun to be had fantasy booking what happens next with Takeshita in The Don Callis Family, especially since he is currently involved in a slow build storyline with Kazuchika Okada. Both men are now champions and they just so happen to have a chance this upcoming weekend to win the AEW World Tag Team Titles together. They win and that’s a pretty amazing tag team you got there. They lose and we’ll likely get the next chapter in the story where Takeshita gets kicked out of the Family and turns face in AEW.

New Japan fans though do not give a shit about from what I’ve seen of their responses online. They’re sick of seeing their company playing second fiddle in this relationship and they don’t want a repeat of Jon Moxley’s title reign where the champ was absent from a couple of tours in Japan only to take part in a throw away title defence with zero build on AEW TV. I bet tempers will flare even hotter if the brand new IWGP Champion was to immediately take a pinfall loss on PPV less than a week later even if it was all part of an angle to turn (big) babyface. They’re also sick of AEW fans fantasy booking Takeshita Vs Okada for the IWGP Title at the Tokyo Dome. I myself am not expecting that match to happen mainly because Okada has almost completely avoided doing anything New Japan related ever since he jumped ship to AEW. There’s been his appearances at “FORBIDDEN DOOR” this year and last and I think that’s been it.

As for me? I’m soaking in the moment. One of my favorite wrestlers in now a top champion and chances are I’m going to see him defend the belt at the Tokyo Dome this 4th January. That’s my boy!