Konosuke Takeshita will finally have his opportunity at revenge as he challenges current KO-D Openweight Champion Jun Akiyama at Wrestle Peter Pan 2021.
Takeshita earned the right to face the champion after winning this year’s King of DDT tournament and now looks to avenge his two losses to Akiyama from last year.
Speaking at a press conference for the event, the former champion addressed his challenging history with Akiyama:
Those back to back losses to Akiyama was a nightmare, and for the 6 months after that, it felt that this long dark night would never end. But with the AEW excursion etc. I’ve been regaining my confidence; I’m ready to come back as the Ace of DDT.
Earlier this year, Takeshita requested a month away from DDT Pro, so that he could go on excursion to All Elite Wrestling.
Since returning from the States, the 37KAMINA member has seemed reinvigorated, winning not only the King of DDT tournament but also a high profile match at CyberFight Festival 2021, the Ultimate Tag League and the KO-D Tag Team Championships alongside Shunma Katsumata.
Speaking on the current champion, Takeshita admitted that although Akiyama has officially signed with the company, he still viewed him as something of an outsider to DDT Pro:
I think it was refreshing for the fans to see Akiyama as Champ, fighting many new opponents for him. But I think we’ve had enough of those; I still consider Akiyama to be an enemy, I still feel that I must get the KO-D title “back to DDT”
Wrestle Peter Pan is scheduled for August 21st and will emenate from the Kawasaki Stadium. The show will stream live on the Wrestle Universe platform.
With thanks to DDT/TJPW English Update (D/TEU) for the translations.