NJPW adds Takeshita NEVER title defense to New Beginning in Osaka
Oleg Boltin is officially next in line for a shot at Konosuke Takeshita’s NEVER Openweight Championship.
NJPW has confirmed that Takeshita will put his NEVER title on the line against Boltin at the New Beginning in Osaka on Tuesday, February 11. It’s the third title defense for Takeshita since he dethroned Shingo Takagi at Wrestle Kingdom 19 to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion.
Takeshita is also the current AEW International Champion. He defeated Takagi in a double title match at Wrestle Kingdom and then retained both belts against Tomohiro Ishii the next night at Wrestle Dynasty. Backstage after that match, Boltin confronted Takeshita to set up a NEVER title bout.
Takeshita then retained the NEVER title against KUSHIDA at NJPW Battle in the Valley last weekend.
If Boltin defeats Takeshita, it would be his first time winning a singles title in NJPW. He is an accomplished amateur wrestler from Kazakhstan who holds NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team title belts with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano.
Osaka is Takeshita’s hometown. It was announced earlier this month that he has signed a contract with NJPW, meaning that he now has deals with all three of AEW, NJPW, and DDT.
The updated New Beginning in Osaka card is listed below:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Hirooki Goto
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against Gabe Kidd
- IWGP Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defend against Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
- NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Oleg Boltin
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita defend against Rocky Romero & YOH
- Taichi vs. SANADA
- Shota Umino vs. Great-O-Khan
- Shingo Takagi vs. Drilla Moloney
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe