NEVER Openweight Championship
On January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Makabe defeated Tomohiro Ishii to win the NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time. After coming down with influenza, Makabe was stripped of the title on February 14 due to being unable to wrestle Ishii in a title rematch at The New Beginning in Sendai. After recovering, Makabe defeated Ishii on April 29 at "Wrestling Hinokuni" to regain the NEVER Openweight Championship. He made his first successful title defense against Ishii on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall. From July 20 to August 14, Makabe took part in the 2015 G1 Climax, where he finished in the middle of his block with a record of four wins and five losses. On September 23 at Destruction in Okayama, Makabe made his second successful defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Kota Ibushi, who had defeated him during the 2015 G1 Climax. On October 12 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Makabe lost the title back to Ishii.