Will KENTA become a two-time GHC Heavyweight Champion?
We’ll find out on May 3 as the former New Japan Pro-Wrestling star will challenge OZAWA for the prestigious title at NOAH Memorial Voyage 2025.
OZAWA won the GHC Heavyweight title back at NOAH The New Year by beating Kaito Kiyomiya. Thus far, OZAWA has successfully defended his belt against Galeno, Manabu Soya, and Masa Kitamiya.
However, KENTA previously held The GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2013/2014. KENTA beat Takeshi Morishima at the NOAH Great Voyage 2013 show and held the belt for an astounding 343 days. This was shortly before he started his stint in WWE/NXT. KENTA has been making his rounds in Pro Wrestling NOAH as of late; the former NEVER Openweight Champion made his full time return to the promotion in January and has successfully beaten Kenoh and Ulka Sasaki in order to earn a GHC Heavyweight title match.
There wasn’t much of a direction for the Pro Wrestling NOAH star in his final year with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that KENTA decided to venture out of the Japanese promotion.
KENTA got his start in Pro Wrestling NOAH. He came into the promotion in 2000 and became one of the most buzzed about names in Japan during his time. KENTA left NOAH in 2014, though he did wrestle for the promotion at the 20th Anniversary Show while he was still under WWE contract. Several years later, he would team up with Marufuji to challenge for the GHC Tag Team titles at New Year 2023. The duo failed to beat Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima for the belts.
With KENTA being a full time talent, he’s able to be involved with more of the upper card programs and it’s quite possible that the 44-year-old could walk out as the new GHC Heavyweight Champion. As of this writing, this is the only match confirmed for NOAH Memorial Voyage 2025. The company is celebrating their 25th Anniversary of this show, so expect big matches for the upcoming event.
Will KENTA win the GHC Heavyweight title for the first time in over a decade? We’ll find out on May 3! The event is nearly two months away and the full card is still coming together. We'll keep you updated when more matches are confirmed.