Konosuke Takeshita is back on AEW television. He made his return on Wednesday’s Dynamite at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
The return came during Kyle Fletcher’s opening promo. Earlier in the night, Kazuchika Okada had said backstage that the most important thing at All In would be keeping the AEW International Championship within the Don Callis Family, regardless of who walked out of Wembley Stadium with the title.
Fletcher used his time in the ring to talk up his plans to remain champion and took shots at Takeshita over his recent run in the G1 Climax 36. His promo was cut short, though, when Takeshita’s music hit.
Takeshita charged the ring and immediately started throwing hands with Fletcher. After taking control, he connected with a Blue Thunder Driver, a Poison Frankensteiner, the Powerdrive Knee, and the Raging Fire to lay Fletcher out. Takeshita then grabbed the AEW International Championship and stood over Fletcher with the belt raised. Okada never came out to make the save for his Don Callis Family stablemate.
This marked Takeshita’s first AEW appearance since July 15, when he also got into it with Fletcher. Just days before that, on July 8, Fletcher had beaten Takeshita on Dynamite Beach Break to capture the AEW International Championship.
During his time away, Takeshita competed in NJPW’s G1 Climax 36, finishing the block stage with a 6-3 record. Despite the strong showing, he missed the semifinals on tiebreakers after a loss to Ryohei Oiwa.