Former Champion Set For AEW TV Absence?

AEW

A former champion could potentially be set for a period of absence from AEW programming.

At this Sunday’s NJPW Dominion event in Osaka-jo Hall, the company will announce the participants in the G1 Climax 35 tournament, which is set to take place between July 18 – August 17.

Ahead of the official line-up announcement a G1 Climax 35 poster emerged on social media from within a NJPW Tokon Shop (see below), seemingly revealing some of the participants in this year’s tournament.

Among those featured was former AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita, and in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer addressed Takeshita potentially competing in the tournament.

Meltzer wrote:

Konosuke Takeshita is on a G-1 Climax poster, which indicates him being in the tournament. The names in the tournament are going to be announced at Dominion and the lineups shortly after.

G-1 will be from 7/18 to 8/17, so Takeshita will be absent from AEW during that time frame.

While we’ll need to wait until NJPW Dominion to find out if Takeshita will in fact be in this year’s tournament, if he does end up competing then he will be seeking to better his performance in last year’s G1 Climax 34, which saw him make the quarter finals before being eliminated by Yota Tsuji.

We will provide further updates on Takeshita’s potential participation in the G1 when the official participant line-up is announced.

For more AEW news headlines check this link here.

Nah the funniest way to leak that Takeshita is doing the G1 again this year and retirement tour Tanahashi is returning after taking last year off, is by hanging a poster behind YOH’s Rainfaker jacket😭😭😭

The rest of the G1 lineup should be announced this weekend at NJPW… pic.twitter.com/IXsCNqCBGL

— 🅰️🅾️ (@KXNGAO) June 12, 2025