OZAWA Feels Yoshiki Inamura Didn’t Improve From His WWE NXT Experience, Says Inamura Returned To NOAH Speaking ‘Terrible English’

OZAWA criticizes the champion.

Headlining Pro Wrestling NOAH’s ‘NOAH The New Year 2026’ show on January 1st is OZAWA challenging Yoshiki Inamura for the GHC Heavyweight Champion.

Ahead of the bout, OZAWA was interviewed by Pro Wrestling NOAH’s official website. He commented on the several overseas excursions that Inamura has been on (U.K. & USA) and questioned if Inamura has improved. He brought up the nearly full year that Inamura spent with WWE NXT and said the only thing Inamura came back to NOAH with was ‘terrible English.’

“I think (Yoshiki) Inamura spent about a year overseas in the U.K. and about a year in the U.S., which is something that has never been possible in Pro Wrestling NOAH up until now. He’s the only wrestler who’s been given this many chances. There’s no other wrestler in NOAH who’s been able to go on overseas tours totaling two years, and he was given two chances. He got chances in both the U.K. and the US. But watching Inamura’s matches, before and after he went, his in-ring content… did anything change? It seems almost the same to me. The only thing that changed is that weird English-speaking character. Despite getting two years of chances and spending two years overseas, the only change is him speaking terrible English. It’s pathetic, isn’t it?”

The full card for NOAH The New Year 2026 can be viewed on Fightful’s events page.