Backstage News On Kazuchika Okada Being Pulled From AEW World Title Match

AEW World Champion Darby Allin has a change of plans, with his upcoming scheduled title defence against Kazuchika Okada on May 13 changed, with Konosuke Takeshita stepping up to Allin instead.

Takeshita and Okada have not been seeing eye-to-eye on AEW television for quite some time, but the changing of Allin vs. Okada to Allin vs. Takeshita prompted chatter, especially after it was revealed by Don Callis on AEW Fairway to Hell that Okada was missing the bout due to ‘family business’ in Japan.

However, it seems that Okada’s reasons for missing the match are legitimate, with F4WOnline’s Bryan Alvarez reporting that Okada is indeed headed back to Japan to tend to family matters.

Okada last competed on May 6th, with a successful defence of the AEW international Championship over Bryan Keith on an episode of AEW Dynamite. It is unknown as to the nature of Okada’s family business, nor how long he is expected to be home in Japan, but it seems that AEW are still intent on running Okada vs. Takeshita at Double or Nothing 2026 on May 24 in Queens, New York.