Image Credit: Pro Wrestling NOAH
By: Ian McCord
On October 25th at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s WRESTLE ODYSSEY II, Tetsuya Naito successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship by defeating N-1 VICTORY 2026 winner OZAWA.
There were 4,253 fans on hand for the event at the Ryogoku Kokugikan to see Naito’s first defense of the title since winning it from Shane Haste back in August.
OZAWA, who defeated Naito in their first singles meeting back in May, came into the title bout sporting a new hairstyle, one reminiscent of Naito’s protégé, Hiromu Takahashi. During a special press conference on October 24th, OZAWA claimed the new hairstyle being similar to Takahashi’s was completely unplanned, and happened by fate as a result of a higher power.
One can’t help to question OZAWA on this claim, seeing as his entrance coat for the title match was very Takahashi inspired, fully equipped with chains and eye ball designs. Another coincidence perhaps.
Naito and OZAWA laid it all on the line in the main event, with both competitors looking like they could walk away with the win, with multiple big spots taking place in the match.
TEAM 2000X and Los Tranquilos de Japon both got involved in favor of their respective stablemates, keeping the playing field as even as it could given the participants involved.
Tetsuya Naito would pick up the win after reversing a Big Ben Edge from OZAWA into his patented Destino for a two-count, and followed up with another Destino to secure the three-count in just under 26 minutes.
After the match, KENOH emerged from the backstage area to confront Naito. KENOH congratulated Naito and claimed that he loves NOAH more than the champion before challenging him to a title match for November 9th at Korakuen Hall.
During the post-match comments, KENOH continued to throw out his challenge to Naito before sharing some harsh criticisms about Naito’s in ring performance. KENOH then told Naito the same thing he told Satoshi Kojima back when he was active in NOAH, stating that the promotion is not a retirement home for wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling.
From KENOH:
“Hey, Naito. How about October 9 at Korakuen Hall? Me vs. you for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Huh? How about November 9 at Korakuen Hall? Me vs. you for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Naito, like I said in the ring, you do act with NOAH’s best interests in mind—at least a little. But hey, you’ve been here for about 10 months now, right? I’ve been here for 10 years. I care about NOAH more than 10 times as much as you do. Because I care about NOAH, I want to make it number one in the industry. And because I care about NOAH, there’s something I want to tell you. Hey, if you keep forcing title matches like that, we’re going to end up with a string of injuries—it’s a real problem. I didn’t say this in the ring. Hey, listen up. Of course, pro wrestlers take their opponents’ moves head-on. We don’t dodge them. We embrace the aesthetics of taking the hit. We finish off our opponents after taking their moves. But you—you’re trying to make people get injured just by taking those moves? If this keeps up, NOAH will be full of injured wrestlers, and NOAH won’t last. I’ll be the one to stand up and say this. Tetsuya Naito, you can come at me however you want. Do whatever you like. But listen—to protect NOAH, I’m going to take you down. If things keep going like this, NOAH might end up with no wrestlers left—just a bunch of injured guys. Hey, Naito. You, too—you’re trying to cling to NOAH, aren’t you? I’ve been telling Tetsuya Naito, ‘Why don’t you go back to New Japan Pro-Wrestling for your own sake?’ But you say you have no intention of going back. Maybe you can’t go back. That’s why—I said this before, back when Satoshi Kojima was around—NOAH isn’t a retirement home for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. But hey, Naito. If you lose in a title match, I’ll even let you headline the second match. I’ll find you a new team to join. For the second match, you can just do a ‘Black Mensore’ comedy match or something. That’s how worried I was about today’s match—as a NOAH wrestler. I’m going to protect NOAH from now on. On October 9, accept my challenge. Want me to say it again? On November 9, accept my challenge. What the hell is wrong with you guys!? I’m going to protect NOAH.”
(English Translation via DeepL)
Elsewhere on the card, Luis Mante defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC National Championship, and JŌNETSU MAX defended their GHC Tag Team Titles in a massive three-way against the Good Brothers and TMDK.
Here are the full results to Pro Wrestling NOAH WRESTLE ODYSSEY II courtesy of purolove.com:
Date:
October 26, 2026
Category:
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