Shane Haste Retains The GHC Heavyweight Title, Tetsuya Naito Emerges As The Next Challenger

By: Lewis Carlan

On July 18th, Pro Wrestling NOAH presented SUMMER EPIC 2026 in Osaka. There were over 2,000 fans on hand at the Intex Osaka to witness the event that included five championship matches.

The main event featured Shane Haste making his third defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship against OZAWA.

OZAWA, who was arguably the toughest challenger to date for Haste, promised he would fight Haste one-on-one without interference from Team 2000x. As expected, OZAWA did not keep his promise as members of Team 2000x appeared mid-match and attacked Haste. Luckily members of Haste’s faction White Raven Squad ran down to help and cleared the arena of Team 2000x.

With the match back to being one-on-one, OZAWA pulled put all the stops to win the bout which included hitting Haste with a crutch. Despite OZAWA’s efforts, it wasn’t enough as Haste ended the match at the 17:32 minute mark with a Bomb Valley Death finisher which led to a pinfall victory for the champion.

After the victory, Haste knew right away who his next challenger will be. Earlier in the evening, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kaito Kiyomiya in a GHC Heavyweight Title #1 Contender’s match-up. Naito pinned Kiyomiya after hard fought battle with a Corriendo-style Inside Cradle at the 15:05 mark.

Photo Credit: Pro Wrestling NOAH

While Haste was celebrating his victory with White Raven Squad members KENTA, Tetsuya Endo & HAYATA, Naito appeared and made his way down to the ring to confront Haste. While in the ring, Naito brought up his loss to Haste in the NJPW 2023 G1 Climax tournament and officially challenged him for the GHC Heavyweight Title. Haste accepted Naito’s championship challenge to which KENTA translated the acceptance for Naito.

From Tetsuya Naito:

“Today, I defeated Kiyomiya—a key figure in Pro Wrestling NOAH—in a singles match. Next up is Shane Haste, the holder of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s top title. That’s you. I haven’t forgotten. At the 2023 G1 CLIMAX event at Korakuen Hall, I lost to you in a singles match. Come play with me again—for that rematch, and for that GHC Heavyweight Championship.” (Translated via Deepl.com)

Here are the full results for NOAH’s SUMMER EPIC 2026 courtesy of purolove.com:

• Atsushi Kotoge, Mohammed Yone, Hi69 & Hajime Ohara defeat Katsumi Inahata, Yuto Koyanagi, Hiroto Tsuruya & Midori Takahashi (4:26) after Kotoge’s Koumori Tsuri Otoshi against Takahashi.
• Tetsuya Endo  & HAYATA defeat RYUSEI & Black Menso~re (5:55) after Endo’s Divine Right Knee against RYUSEI.
• GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Dragon Bane & Alejandro (c) defeat JACKY KAMEI  & Riiita  (11:03) after a Santa Maria by Bane against KAMEI (4th defense).
  
• SMACK THE BEAST: Yoshiki Inamura defeats Kazuyuki Fujita (4:37) with a Beast Bomb.
  
• N-1 Participant Decision 7 Man Ladder Match: Alpha Wolf defeats Tadasuke, Jun Masaoka, Daiki Odashima, AMAKUSA, Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II (10:38).
  
• GHC Heavyweight Title Contendership: Tetsuya Naito defeats Kaito Kiyomiya (15:05) with a Corriendo-style Inside Cradle.
  
• GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title: Eita (c) defeats BUSHI (12:50) with the Numero Uno (2nd defense).
• GHC Tag Team Title: Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino  (c) defeat Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura (10:25) as Soya Kitamiya pinned after the Passion IS. (1st defense).
  
• GHC National Title: Naomichi Marufuji (c) defeats KENOH (12:39) with the Shiranui (3rd defense).
  
• GHC Heavyweight Title: Shane Haste (c) defeats OZAWA (17:52) with a Bomb Valley Death (3rd defense).