Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi to compete in Netflix hot dog contest

Joey Chestnut (L) and Takeru Kobayashi (R) compete in the Nathan's hot dog-eating contest on July 4, 2009, in New York. Craig Ruttle/AP hide caption

When hot dog-guzzling champion Joey Chestnut was banned from the July 4 contest that made him famous, he vowed that fans would see him eat again soon.

“STAY HUNGRY!” he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

And mere hours later, Netflix whet fans’ appetite with a particularly savory announcement: Chestnut is slated to face off against his archrival, Takeru Kobayashi, for the first time since 2009.

National Hot dog-eating champ Joey Chestnut won't compete this July 4. What’s the beef?

The two biggest names in hot-dog eating will reunite for a “wiener-takes-all” competition on Labor Day, to finally settle their “unfinished beef.” The event will stream live on the platform on September 2, with timing and location to be announced later.

“The showdown will settle a 15-year rivalry between the two competitive eaters: Will Chestnut maintain his title as the world’s greatest, or will Kobayashi come in with a vengeance and regain his throne?” Netflix teased in a release.

The stakes are high — arguably higher than the towering trays of hot dogs that each man has mastered the art of devouring. Stay with us while we ketchup on their history.

Takeru Kobayashi poses for the cameras after winning the annual Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan's Famous on Coney Island on July 4, 2005. David Paul Morris/Getty Images hide caption

Kobayashi, 46, is often called the “Godfather of Competitive Eating,” and credited with popularizing the sport in the U.S.

The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island had been sort of a joke since the 1970s, Jason Fagone, the author of Horsemen Of The Esophagus: Competitive Eating And The Big Fat American Dream, told NPR last year. Competitors had goofy nicknames and didn’t exactly train for it.

Then came Kobayashi, who rose to fame eating 16 bowls of ramen in an hour on a TV show in his native Japan.