OZAWA Continues His Mind Games, States His May 2nd Bout With Tetsuya Naito Will Be Naito’s Retirement Match

By: Lewis Carlan

The hottest feud in Pro Wrestling NOAH at the moment is the one between Los Tranquilos de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito and Team 2000x captain OZAWA.

The growing rivalry between Naito and OZAWA began in March 2026 and it was over the GHC Tag Team Titles. After a number of preliminaries, Naito & BUSHI defended their GHC Tag Team belts against OZAWA & Jun Masaoka on April 12th at NOAH Apex Conquest 2026 in Nagoya. OZAWA & Masaoka were unsuccessful in capturing the tag team championship from Naito & BUSHI after Naito pinned OZAWA following a roll up.

The next phase of the Naito vs OZAWA feud takes place on May 2nd as the two meet in their first ever singles bout at NOAH’s SPRING MAYHEM RYOGOKU 2026 which is set at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Image Credit: Pro Wrestling NOAH

OZAWA took to X and commented on his upcoming bout with Naito and vowed that their May 2nd encounter will be Naito’s retirement match.

From OZAWA:

“5.2: This will be Tetsuya Naito’s retirement match. Thank you for your hard work.” (English translation via Deepl.com)

Photo Credit: Pro Wrestling NOAH

While OZAWA is calling the May 2nd bout the Tetsuya Naito retirement match, it’s basically just more of the mind games OZAWA is playing to get inside Naito’s head.

It’s a safe bet to say that at NOAH’s SPRING MAYHEM RYOGOKU 2026, Tetsuya Naito will NOT be retiring despite OZAWA’s claim that he will be. One thing is certain, the fans are hoping that May 2nd gets here fast as they await this highly anticipated, long awaited singles bout between Tetsuya Naito and OZAWA.