AEW: Megan Bayne Reportedly Signed to Deal, Konosuke Takeshita on Joining AEW, Sega Match Sponsorship & More News

Nov 7, 2023

Megan Bayne Reportedly Has Been Signed with AEW for Some Time

Stardom and indies talent Megan Bayne reportedly has been under contract with AEW since earlier this year, according to Fightful Select.

It was reported that their sources stated that Bayne has been signed with AEW for the past several months. It was also reported that the reason for her absence in the company since her signing is due to AEW officials had sent her to Stardom for some training and improving her ring work there.

It was also reported that AEW officials currently do not have any creative plans for Bayne in the company as of this past Summer.

Prior to her signing, Bayne has made several appearances for AEW since 2021.

Konosuke Takeshita Comments on His Decision to Sign with AEW Over WWE

DDT Pro Wrestling’s official website held a recent interview with former DDT talent Konosuke Takeshita. One of the topics discussed included Takeshita’s thoughts about his decision to leave DDT in 2022 and his decision to join AEW over WWE.

“When I lost the KO-D belt to Tetsuya Endo at Ryogoku Kokugikan last March, I said, ‘This is the second chapter for Konosuke Takeshita…’ As a champion, I had already been around the world one or two times, so I felt that the only way to show what I could do was to cross the ocean. So the choice was WWE or AEW. At that time, there were not that many main male wrestlers in AEW, and moreover, there were no Japanese who wore the singles belt, except for women. I wanted to do something that no one else was doing. At that point, I wasn’t sure if AEW would become as huge as it is now, but it was still a choice I made. Then, over the next year or so, the number of wrestlers steadily increased, and I don’t think I would have had a chance if I had waited another year. It was all a matter of timing… When the Coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for Japanese professional wrestling to make its voice heard, I thought to myself, this is no good for me to be wrestling. I’ve been doing it for 10 years, so I’ve had enough. I went to the U.S. because I wanted to give it one last try, and I think that may have been my destiny. I wouldn’t be where I am today without AEW, which guided me, and DDT, which sent me here, so the best way for me to repay them would be to fight Chris Jericho.”

Takeshita also gave his thoughts about his upcoming return appearance for DDT at their Ultimate Party 2023 event on November 12th.

“First of all, I wanted to fight Jericho in a singles match, which is what I had wanted to do when I became a member of AEW. I had reached the point where I could imagine myself doing that in the AEW ring, but I wanted to do it in a DDT ring.
In the past, DDT has done things like parodying WWE superstars, but when you think back to the beginning of the organization, it was unthinkable to have an active superstar appear instead of an impersonator in the ring. So it was a secret ambition of mine to make it a reality. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I saw it come true… So when I felt the reaction at that moment, I was honestly happy.”

Takeshita also gave his thoughts about his idea to face Jericho at a DDT event as being his way of repaying DDT for sending him to the United States for work.

“It was a very long year for me. The days go by quickly, but with AEW, you have to go to the venue every week not knowing if you’ll be performing that day, and you are locked up there (at the venue) for at least 12 or 13 hours. You have to think about what you can do if there is a match, or what you can do even if there is no match. So it feels like a really long time. One of my missions was to keep in touch with Jericho. I have been doing that for a year since I joined the team. Let me tell you why I chose Jericho in the first place. Before I became a member of AEW, I came to the U.S. from DDT in April of last year, and I was there for about four months… and I completed those four months, but… I wonder if this is something that is reaching the fans in Japan. I had gained recognition in the U.S., but there were times when I wondered if I was giving back to DDT. At that time, Jericho tweeted that I was a ‘future world champion,’ and when I saw that, I felt like I was rewarded for the hardest four months of my 11-year wrestling career. At the same time, I thought, if he said that, there must be something I can do with Jericho that no one has done yet… Jericho came to Japan several times after he became a world superstar, and he was always in a very special guest position, wasn’t he? I think I could fight him now as an equal. I thought that if we were in the ring, instead of superstar versus DDT’s Konosuke Takeshita, we could really go at it on an even footing. Of course it would be a hot topic in the U.S., but what I could do in DDT would be a way to repay DDT for sending me to the U.S. I wanted to do that, and that’s what I did. That’s what solidified my desire to invite Chris Jericho to DDT.”

Takeshita also gave his thoughts about the future of his wrestling career.

“I’ve decided that my true goal of retiring as a professional wrestler is at age 40, so I wonder if I still have 12 years left or if I only have 12 years left. I’ve always been in a hurry to live, so I think I only have 12 years left, and my prime will be here in four years. Up until two or three years ago, I thought I was lagging behind in my life plan as a professional wrestler, but I feel like I’ve finally caught up by appearing in AEW. It’s still not enough though.”

English translation via PostWrestling.com

AEW News & Notes

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that AEW recently signed a sponsorship deal with SEGA. It was reported that SEGA will be the official match sponsor for the upcoming 8-Man Tag Team match between The Don Callis Family and Kenny Omega, Paul Wight, Chris Jericho & Kota Ibushi at this Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show. It was also reported that SEGA-related video content has already been filmed for this sponsored match.

As noted before, Dralistico signed an official contract with AEW this past Wednesday. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Dralistico’s contract is a full-time type deal with AEW.

In a recent interview with the WrestlePurists podcast, NJPW official and talent Rocky Romero stated that AEW, NJPW, and CMLL have been in recent talks regarding AEW holding a potential event in Japan or Mexico in the future. Romero stated “Yeah, yeah (Romero answered when asked if the idea of an AEW show in Mexico or Japan has been brought up). Definitely, there’s been some talk. They’re not so easy to do when they’re international like that… Say we did a Forbidden Door in Japan, obviously it would be New Japan doing a lot of the heavy lifting because obviously, they have the resources here in Japan or in Mexico, maybe CMLL could be an option. We’re pretty far away from that right now. I think because the relationship just got started but yeah, that could definitely be a possibility in the future hopefully. But we’ll see.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

AEW announced one new match for the card of their November 8th AEW Dynamite show in Portland, Oregon: