Tetsuya Naito defeated Shane Haste to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Legacy Rise on Sunday.
Naito pinned Haste following a Destino in the main event at a sold-out Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. NOAH announced an attendance of 1,589.
Haste had held the championship since defeating Yoshiki Inamura at Spring Mayhem on May 2. Sunday marked his fourth defense, having successfully retained the title three times during his 99-day reign.
The closing stretch saw Naito counter the Bomb Valley Death with a reverse Frankensteiner. He later countered another attempt into a Destino, followed with a running version of the move and finished Haste with a final Destino.
KORAKUEN IN A FRENZY‼️
NEW GHC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: TETSUYA NAITO‼️#noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/MiUitGKXnl
— PRO WRESTLING NOAH (@noahglobal) August 9, 2026
BUSHI and RYUSEI joined Naito after the victory. The new champion told the crowd that he intended to remain with NOAH, noting that holding the promotion’s top championship gave him an obvious reason to stay. He then closed the show with his customary “De Japón” call.
Naito also addressed the upcoming N-1 Victory tournament backstage and indicated that he does not intend to enter. Instead, he proposed that NOAH determine its leading contender through the tournament and have that wrestler challenge him.
The N-1 Victory begins September 12 at Korakuen Hall and concludes October 4 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Second Gymnasium. NOAH is scheduled to announce the tournament field at Monday’s Korakuen Hall event
Naito earned Sunday’s championship opportunity by defeating Kaito Kiyomiya in a number-one contender match on July 18. Haste retained against OZAWA later on the same card, setting up their title match.
The GHC Heavyweight Championship is Naito’s second title since beginning his run with NOAH. He and BUSHI captured the GHC Tag Team Championships on January 1 before later losing the belts to Manabu Soya and Yuki Iino.
Naito and BUSHI finished with New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestling Dontaku on May 4, 2025, ending Naito’s two-decade association with the promotion.
Legacy Rise 2026 results
- Mohammed Yone, Atsushi Kotoge, Hi69 & Hajime Ohara def. Dragon Bane, Alejandro, Shuji Kondo & Katsumi Inahata
- Four-way Tag Match: Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II def. BUSHI & RYUSEI, Super Crazy & Black Menso~re, and Yuto Koyanagi & Midori Takahashi
- Eita & Daiki Odashima vs. Kai Fujimura & Jun Masaoka ended in a double countout; Fujimura & Masaoka won the restart
- GHC200 Title Tournament first round:HAYATA def. Masa Kitamiya
- GHC200 Title Tournament first round:Tetsuya Endo def. AMAKUSA
- OZAWA, Takashi Sugiura & Tadasuke def. Manabu Soya, Yuki Iino & YO-HEY
- GHC200 Title Tournament first round:Kenoh vs. Alpha Wolf — time-limit draw
- GHC200 Title Tournament first round:Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yoshiki Inamura — time-limit draw
- GHC National Championship:Naomichi Marufuji (c) def. KENTA
- GHC Heavyweight Championship:Tetsuya Naito def. Shane Haste (c)
