Tony Khan made a big mistake at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door III
While AEW Forbidden Door III was filled to the brim with some exciting matches, the ladder match to decide the new TNT Champion was arguably in a league of its own. However, the booking regarding who won the match may have been a mistake, judging by the audience reaction.
All the competitors in the ladder match, Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, Jack Perry, Dante Martin, Lio Rush, and El Phantasmo, were on quite the equal footing early on. While Jack Perry was the one to watch out for, considering he was backed up by the EVPs Young Bucks, it was clear that a majority of the fans were vying for Konosuke Takeshita to take the win.
Despite Takeshita being a heel at the current stage and being affiliated with The Don Callis family, his incredible talent has earned him a dedicated fanbase. Forbidden Door could have been the perfect opportunity to turn him face and win the TNT Title in the process. Just after Jack Perry won, the groans of dissapointment from fans were quite audible.
Konosuke Takeshita has previously commented about being unhappy in AEW
While Takeshita is certainly massively talented, apparently that wasn't enough to have him featured more in AEW.
In an interview with DDT Pro-Wrestling, Takeshita stated that he was unaware of how competing in America did not only involve hard work.
“I thought hard work could cover for everything else before getting there. If I showed how good I am, I could get more airtime, but there are other aspects that come to play when competing here (in America). Discrimination is not the word here but unfortunately, there’s a lack of space for an Asian person to be on a TV show watched by Americans. No matter how good my condition was nor the amount of matches I was put it, or how many times they said my match was good, it felt like I couldn’t make it in the starting lineup, to put it in baseball terms.”
He also stated that he did not feel the 'enjoyment' anymore. As of now, it remains to be seen if his latest efforts will lead him to break into the top rungs of the AEW roster soon.