On June 30, 2009, Tatsu joined the ECW brand and debuted under the ring name, Yoshi Tatsu which he joined because of their new superstar initiative. In his first match on the brand that night he defeated Shelton Benjamin but he lost a rematch to Benjamin on the July 9 episode of ECW. On the October 20 episode of ECW, Tatsu was involved in a number one contender's match for the ECW Championship against Zack Ryder who he defeated to become the number one contender for the title. He was unable to win the championship the next week against Christian who was champion at the time.