Jon Moxley Vs. Konosuke Takeshita

AEW Revolution 2026 is correct across the corner, and one in every of the featured matches on this 12 months’s pay-per-view will see the most recent instalment in an extended line of matches between two men who just wish to be one of the best. Jon Moxley will defend his AEW Continental Championship against Konosuke Takeshita in a match that could have no cut-off date to make sure that an actual winner is set, primarily because they’ve been so evenly matched of their previous encounters.

Over the past 4 years, Moxley and Takeshita have crossed paths multiple times, with a complete of 5 singles matches going down between the 2 men in that point. Moxley was naturally the heavy favorite when he first got within the ring with Takeshita, but “The Alpha” has grown and matured over time to the purpose where he hasn’t lost to the present AEW Continental Champion in nearly two years. That fact is why Moxley is so obsessive about beating Takeshita as he once knew the best way to get the job done against “The Alpha,” but in the case of putting him away lately it’s a bit of tougher, and he’ll need on a regular basis on the earth at Revolution if he wants to realize his goal.

With Revolution on the horizon, we here at Wrestling Inc. are hyping ourselves up for the massive event by looking back on old matches, reviewing previous events, and documenting how certain rivalries got to the purpose they’re at now. Today, it’s Moxley and Takeshita’s turn to have the highlight shined upon them to see the evolution of this competitive rivalry in between the ropes. As previous mentioned, a complete of 5 singles matches between Moxley and Takeshita have gone down in AEW, and we’re going to watch all of them. So sit back, chill out, and join us as we glance back on every match between Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita.

We start our journey through this series within the weird limbo time that was the summer of 2022 for AEW. CM Punk’s injury right after winning the AEW World Championship meant that an Interim AEW World Championship was created, and Jon Moxley was doing the whole lot in his power during to make sure that that folks saw him as the highest guy and never Punk. The summer of 2022 can be seen by many as the actual turning point within the feud between AEW and WWE as Vince McMahon was forced to retire at the top of July and was replaced by Triple H, resulting in WWE reaching heights it hadn’t seen in years.

With an injured world champion and the corporate’s biggest rival on the verge of turning a corner from a momentum standpoint, Moxley really was the proper guy to guide AEW at the moment as he was operating on a special level to everyone within the business. Consistently putting on matches that ranged from superb to excellent, not only in AEW but in every promotion that might have him, Moxley returned from his stint in rehab initially of 2022 and was completely different beast. Nevertheless, he was facing a special form of beast in a young Konosuke Takeshita. He had a breakthrough performance against Hangman Page in May and proved he was nobody hit wonder with a string of huge performances through the early summer, earning himself the largest match of his AEW profession heading into Fyter Fest.

Babyface DDT Takeshita is one someone who immediately connected with the fans, a lot in order that Moxley, who was extremely popular at the moment, ended up playing the heel role on this match. Takeshita was in a position to hang nicely within the early going, but once he gets busted open, something you do not see from him lately, Moxley is throughout him and is toying along with his food. The champion just uses all of his experience to have a good time as Takeshita sells the blood as if he’s in the largest fight of his AEW profession (which he’s), and while I can see what they were going for with this match going down a number of months after Wheeler Yuta’s blood-soaked Blackpool Combat Club initiation match against Moxley, it doesn’t quite live as much as what was achieved in that bout.

But that does not make this match any less awesome which it absolutely is. The fans really rally behind Takeshita as he mounts a comeback, and even give referee Paul Turner a chunk of their minds with a few of the near falls as the gang genuinely wants Takeshita to win. In the long run, Moxley, who can be busted open at this point because he probably felt overlooked, withstands Takeshita’s fighting spirit and grinds him down right into a Bulldog Choke for the win. Moxley knew he had been in a fight, and he knew one other fight wasn’t far-off with Takeshita.

Fast forward to the top of 2022 and AEW is already in a really different spot to where it was when Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita last faced off. We had the entire fall out from “Brawl Out,” and while The Elite had returned to the corporate, CM Punk was still away from the corporate nursing his injuries. WWE found a brand new lease on life and will genuinely make the claim of being the most well liked company on the earth, and MJF had just kicked off his first reign because the AEW World Champion that would not come to an end until the ultimate show of the next 12 months.

So much had modified for each Takeshita and Moxley as well. For Takeshita, he had officially signed with AEW in November after becoming one in every of the most well liked young wrestlers on the earth through his performances on AEW TV, but had been scouted from afar by Don Callis who hadn’t gotten into his ear just yet. As for Moxley, he became the Undisputed AEW World Champion by beating Punk, lost the title to Punk who then needed to vacate it due to injuries and the entire “Brawl Out” incident, won the title again but dropped it to MJF at Full Gear due to William Regal turning on the Blackpool Combat Club, with Regal literally leaving AEW just a number of days before this match.

To place it simply, this match had very low stakes. Each men didn’t even get entrances firstly of “AEW Rampage” because the show dove straight into the motion, and it’s probably since it took place on “Rampage” that this match doesn’t get talked about quite a bit, which is a shame since it is just pretty much as good as their initial meeting five months earlier. The match acts as a natural escalation from the primary one as Takeshita enters with quite a bit more confidence and experience. He’s the one who actively goes for the control of the match moderately than attempting to benefit from Moxley’s errors, which causes Moxley to dive into his bag of dirty tricks. He takes the motion into the gang where he’s more comfortable, but Takeshita is in a position to hang with Moxley and busts him open on the skin, reversing the roles from the initial bout.

Moxley bleeding in matches became something of a meme by this point as you could not have a look at him a certain way without him furiously blading himself, but seeing him on the backfoot due to blood loss gives this match a special spin from the primary one. Takeshita is firing on all cylinders by busting out all of his big guns, and due to lowered stakes and Takeshita just being signed to a full-time deal, the gang leaned in once more and thought this may be the night where Takeshita gets that first major victory. Nevertheless, it’s Moxley who takes advantage of Takeshita attempting to escalate things by utilizing his experience to once more get a submission victory via a Bulldog Choke. 

“Rampage” was a show that rewarded you for being loyal to it since you never knew when a banger like this may occur. Definitely among the finest matches in “Rampage” history, and well price a watch.

The one pay-per-view offering from Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita took place at AEW Double or Nothing 2024, which just so happened to be held in the identical constructing Moxley made his AEW debut five years earlier. In case you thought quite a bit had modified between the primary two matches, the 17 months between the 2022 holiday season and Memorial Day Weekend in 2024 is something else.

Moxley was on something of a side quest within the spring of 2024 as he returned to Latest Japan Pro Wrestling and captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship from Tetsuya Naito, making him the primary man ever to carry the highest prize in AEW, NJPW, and WWE. But for as rewarding as winning the title could have been, this era was a bit bland for Moxley as he wasn’t really doing anything in AEW, and while he may need been fully bald here, the Death Riders story was still a number of month away. 

Takeshita then again had develop into “The Alpha” of The Don Callis Family a 12 months earlier at Double or Nothing 2023, he had beaten Kenny Omega twice in a single week, and was step by step working his way up the cardboard to where he could challenge for gold. Nevertheless, when a chance to get a shot at the distinguished IWGP World Heavyweight Championship presents itself, nobody goes to pass up on that.

This might be probably the most divisive of the Moxley/Takeshita series thus far because it is widely different from the 2022 matches, but offers up the only story. Takeshita injured Moxley’s arm on the episode of “AEW Collision” before this match, resulting in Moxley walking in along with his left arm completely bandaged up and providing the largest bullseye for Takeshita that he could have asked for. “The Alpha” is more methodical and slow on this one as he zones in on Moxley’s arm, who puts in a single hell of a selling performance. He’s even selling the arm while he’s making his entrance, he just gets it doesn’t he? 

The gang does take a bit of little bit of time to warm up attributable to Takeshita being so dominant in his arm attacks, but when he yanks Moxley down shoulder first on the apron everyone squirms of their seat for the angle its performed at. The bombs do start landing within the closing stretch, with Moxley consciously avoiding any kind of strike or move that requires his left arm which looks to offer Takeshita a transparent path to victory. Nevertheless, he decides to hearken to Don Callis and brings some chairs into the ring, but this comes back to haunt Takeshita as he gets his head stomped directly into the steel while Rick Knox throws the opposite chairs out, and Moxley escapes with the win. Actually a special match from the primary two, however the slow burn pays off well and finally ends up being a moderately underrated bout ultimately.

One other 17 months passes by before Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita again, with their fourth match going down within the ultra-competitive environment of the Continental Classic tournament. The “C2” is AEW’s annual round robin tournament where everyone has their eye on becoming the AEW Continental Champion at Worlds End, and each men had very different journeys heading into the 2025 competition.

Right after losing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Moxley vanished from AEW and returned with one goal in mind, burn AEW to the bottom and rebuild it along with his vision. He retired Bryan Danielson, locked the AEW World Championship in a briefcase, and alongside his Death Riders he terrorized AEW for nine months as the remaining of the roster were forced to step as much as Moxley’s level. Once the unbeatable aura surrounding him was shattered, Moxley became more erratic and commenced losing several matches to the likes of Darby Allin and Kyle O’Reilly, and wanted to make use of the Continental Classic to rebuild his image in a tournament where he couldn’t have any help from the Death Riders.

Takeshita was only difficult for the proper to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship when he last faced Moxley, but he walked into the Continental Classic with the title around his waist. In the summertime, he won the G1 Climax tournament in NJPW and used his title opportunity to dethrone Zack Sabre Jr., adding the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to the AEW International and NEVER Openweight Championships he had won within the 12 months prior. “The Alpha” had reached his final form and desired to be the primary man to win NJPW and AEW’s signature round robin tournaments in the identical 12 months. 

Very similar to the Double or Nothing match, this one focuses on Takeshita zoning in on a Moxley injury. This time it is the left ankle from all of the times he was forced to tap out by the hands of Kyle O’Reilly throughout the autumn, and it’s one other improbable selling performance from the leader of the Death Riders. He’s limping far and wide while Takeshita just beats the snot out of him, but Moxley doesn’t quit and truly uses the injury to his advantage when doing a Stomp on the apron, and even going after Takeshita’s ankle as well.

Nevertheless, the injury finally ends up catching as much as Moxley and plays into the top of the match because the adrenaline wears off and he buckles while attempting to hit a Lariat. This results in Takeshita hitting two Power Drive Knees and the Raging Fire within the dying embers of the cut-off date to choose up his first win in AEW over Moxley. A pleasant mixture of their first three encounters upgraded to include their current characters and most up-to-date storylines, this match was among the finest matches of the 2025 Continental Classic, and you simply knew that Moxley would want revenge once the tournament was over.

Probably the most recent showdown between Moxley and Takeshita only happened a few weeks ago on the time of writing, nevertheless it’s the explanation why their bout at AEW Revolution on March 15 has no cut-off date. 

Not as much modified with the 2 men between their Continental Classic bout and this one, but there was enough to offer each men extra motivation for winning. Moxley went on to win the tournament and develop into the brand new AEW Continental Champion, and despite wanting to tear AEW limb from limb in 2025, his performances within the C2, in addition to the matches he had since winning the title where he’ll literally face anyone who throws their name on the market, Moxley has earned the respect of the fans. Takeshita fell short within the C2 losing within the semi-finals to Kazuchika Okada, and he would find yourself losing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Yota Tsuji at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4. Nevertheless, he did have one thing going for him, that being his victory over Moxley within the C2 which has weighed heavily on the mind of the AEW Continental Champion because it happened. 

To not say that this match is bad or anything, removed from it, but recency bias doesn’t apply on this instance as I actually imagine that is the weakest of all of the matches Moxley and Takeshita have had together. This match has big house show energy, which is comprehensible given where the match takes place as you’ll be able to tell that the Australian fans desired to cheer principally anything that happened. What that results in is a match where the in-ring story almost takes a backseat in favor of giving the fans something to cheer for, which foes make for an entertaining watch, if not a bit of inconsequential in the primary half.

All of that changes when the time cues start getting called out as each men immediately get up and the massive bombs start dropping. This extra level of urgency gets the gang going much more, and this match that was being wrestled more as a marathon to start with is now an all out sprint. Moxley and Takeshita swing wildly at one another, with Moxley showing a variety of resilience as Takeshita really takes control. The sprint gets even quicker with one minute remaining with headbutts, kickouts at one, a Power Drive Knee to the back of the top, it’s probably the most frantic these two have ever been, however the knee was so powerful that Takeshita couldn’t hit the Raging Fire in time and it ends in a 20 minute draw.

Moxley and Takeshita won’t must spring at Revolution as they may have on a regular basis on the earth to do their thing. Takeshita looks to finally have Moxley’s number after years of falling short, but one thing is for certain, fans in Los Angeles will witness a battle for the ages over the AEW Continental Championship.