 In 1998, he challenged for the vacated UWA World Middleweight Championship, but was defeated by Willow.Shortly after, he formed a tag team with Minoru Fujita, who was based in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, and they competed at the "Tag League 98", where they managed to snatch a significant win over Masao Orihara and Takeshi Ono.They would team extensively in several promotions, but over time, conflicting schedules from competing for separate promotions limited their activity as a team.