Konosuke Takeshita has spoken in detail about how his time working in America has gone so far, noting some of the struggles since breaking out in the North American mainstream.
Speaking to DDT Pro, he said (h/t 411Mania);
“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”.
Noting just how difficult he’d found adjusting to how different he felt, he added;
“Everyone felt like they’re having fun Wrestling here (in Japan). I didn’t have any fun wrestling ever since I got to America. The effort was bearing fruit, but I didn’t feel the enjoyment. It was the most mentally exhausting period in all 12 years of my wrestling career. However, when I stopped having fun, my matches were better received, and I gained more recognition. And it’s not proportional.”
Takeshita will take on Jon Moxley at Double Or Nothing in a IWGP Championship contenders match, with the Don Callis Family representative bound to a title shot if he wins. Takeshita joined up with Callis one year earlier, turning heel on The Elite to join up with ‘The Invisible Hand’.
Smirfitts Speech 