AEW Stars Who Faced Kyoki (Hiromu Takahashi) Prior To His WWE Debut

AEW

Following months of speculation about his next move, Hiromu Takahashi has now joined WWE, aligning himself with Shinsuke Nakamura on the August 21 SmackDown episode.

Takahashi – now “Kyoki” in WWE – has shared the ring with numerous top stars from all over the world.

We recently listed WWE stars who previously faced Kyoki, but there are also some notable competitors currently in AEW who can be regarded as some of the Japanese star’s greatest rivals.

Here are six current AEW stars who Kyoki (Hiromu Takahashi) shared the ring with prior to his WWE debut.

Young Bucks

Matt and Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks are two stars who kept crossing paths with Kyoki, even after their full-time NJPW runs.

The Young Bucks notably won the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Dynasty in January 2025, in a three-way match also featuring Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb, and Tetsuya Naito & “Hiromu Takahashi”.

Naito and Takahashi went on to defeat Matt and Nick Jackson for the gold at that February’s The New Beginning in Osaka show.

Kyoki and the Young Bucks most recently faced off in eight-man tag-team action on AEW TV, with the Bucks, Josh Alexander and Kyle Fletcher coming up short against “Takahashi”, Hologram, Tomohiro Ishii and Brody King.

Ricochet

Both former stars of the NJPW junior heavyweight division, Kyoki and Ricochet clashed on a number of occasions between 2013 and 2017.

Ricochet won both of the duo’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament encounters, defeating “Hiromu Takahashi” in block action in both 2013 and 2017.

Kyoki was victorious in their only championship match together however, defeating Ricochet to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title at NJPW Wrestling Toyonokuni 2017.

Both stars have come a long way since these matches, and fans would love to see a rematch down the line.

Kazuchika Okada

While Kazuchika Okada and Kyoki mostly shared the ring as teammates, the duo have squared off in singles action.

Okada and “Hiromu Takahashi” teamed together numerous times between August 2016 and October 2023 as part of the CHAOs stable.

Their one singles encounter took place in the 2020 New Japan Cup tournament, with the Rainmaker picking up the victory in their semifinal bout.

With Okada now thriving in AEW, the duo appear to be set to have parallel careers, after spending so long together as stablemates.

Kyle Fletcher

While Kyoki competed at the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of Forbidden Door, only one of these appearances saw him compete for an AEW title.

“Hiromu Takahashi” faced off against Kyle Fletcher at the August 24, 2025 event in London, England, with the TNT Championship on the line.

Fletcher was ultimately victorious, pinning Kyoki after 15 minutes of action.

While he was unsuccessful in the match, Kyoki will always be able to say that he challenged for AEW championship gold.

Will Ospreay

Many fans consider Will Ospreay to be Kyoki’s greatest career rival, regardless of company or promotion.

Ospreay and “Hiromu Takahashi” have wrestled numerous classic matches against one another since first locking horns in the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

While they last shared the ring in tag-team action during the Road To Destruction 2023 tour, Ospreay and Kyoki’s last one-on-one encounter saw the Japanese star win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom 14, in a match which Dave Meltzer awarded 5.5 stars.

While a future match now seems unlikely, many fans are hoping that we will eventually see Kyoki share the ring with Ospreay one last time.

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• Kyoki
• AEW
• wwe
• NJPW
• Hiromu Takahashi

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