Shane Haste Retains GHC Heavyweight Title, OZAWA Nominates Himself As Next Challenger

By: Ian McCord

On June 25th, Shane Haste successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship against fellow White Raven Squad stablemate Tetsuya Endo at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s LEGACY RISE 2026 at Korakuen Hall.

Haste defeated Endo in an action-packed main event for NOAH’s top prize, which saw him pick up the win in just under 23 minutes after hitting the Bomb Valley Death for the win. After the match, OZAWA appeared, offering to serve as the translator for the champion since KENTA was absent from the event.

During his post match speech to the Korakuen crowd, Haste declared that he only wanted to face the best challengers, urging his next opponent to come out to the ring and call his shot for the title.

OZAWA, being the trouble maker that he is, mistranslated Haste’s words making it seem like the champion requested that OZAWA be the next challenger for the Heavyweight Title.

From OZAWA:

“Honestly, I’m relieved that OZAWA is here right now. Even though this is a match for the noble GHC title, the turnout is just so-so. I’m really happy that OZAWA, who’s great at getting the crowd fired up, is here. Today’s title match against Endo didn’t generate much excitement, but I think it would be a different story with OZAWA. I have a humble request. OZAWA, would you be willing to face me in a match for the noble GHC belt?”

(English Translation via DeepL)

OZAWA would accept the “request” and leave the ring before Haste had the opportunity to respond.

During an interview with Monthly Puroresu last month, Haste mentioned OZAWA as someone on the NOAH roster that has caught his attention, especially after OZAWA’s “Fan Poll” for who fans wanted to see in the Main Event of SPRING MAYHEM RYOGOKU back in May.

From Shane Haste:

“The next one is OZAWA. I definitely wanna get in there with OZAWA. It’s hard because I didn’t know him before, I’d only seen him in a few things and he blurs the line between the person and the character. I don’t spend time with him, so I don’t really know if that’s what he’s really like. So yeah, I do wanna get in there with him, especially when he did that poll thing. And they won (the poll) and I’m like, up yours, man. Now I really wanna ragdoll him”

A match between Haste and OZAWA for the GHC Heavyweight Championship was made official for HaRENO Presents SUMMER EPIC 2026 on July 18th in Osaka.

Image Credit: Pro Wrestling NOAH

Elsewhere on the card, Naomichi Marufuji retained the GHC National Title against Shuji Kondo with KENOH appearing after the match to step up as the next challenger. Also, Los Tranquilos de Japon’s Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI lost the GHC Tag Team Titles to the NEO GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE 2026 winners Manabu Soya and Yuki Iino. TEAM 2000X’s Masa Kitamiya and Takashi Sugiura would hit the ring after the match to attack the new champions, making it clear their intentions to be the new champions first challengers.

Here are the full results from Pro Wrestling NOAH’s LEGACY RISE 2026 on June 25th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Yoshiki Inamura, Stallion Rogers, and AMAKUSA defeat Kenoh, Kid Lykos, and Kid Lykos II (6:40) following a Crucifix Hold by AMAKUSA on Lykos I.
• Daiki Odashima, Yuto Koyanagi, Hiroto Tsuruya, & Midori Takahashi defeat Takashi Sugiura, Tadasuke, Alpha Wolf, & Jun Masaoka (4:01) when Tadasuke was disqualified.
• HAYATA & Katsumi Inahata defeated Eita & Super Crazy (5:58) following HAYATA’s 403 Impact on Crazy.
• OZAWA, Masa Kitamiya, & Kai Fujimura defeated Kaito Kiyomiya, Alejandro, & Dragon Bane (9:03) following OZAWA’s Swan-Dive Moonsault Press on Alejandro.
• GHC National Title: Naomichi Marufuji (c) defeats Shuji Kondo (12:47) with the Perfect Neck Lock (2nd defense).
• GHC Tag Team Title: Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino defeat Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI (18:20) following Soya’s “Passion IS” against BUSHI – title change.
• GHC Heavyweight Title: Shane Haste (c) defeats Tetsuya Endo (22:50) with the Bomb Valley Death (2nd defense).