Chiyotaikai Ryūji was given his "shikona" (wrestler name) in honour of his stablemaster and joined professional sumo in November 1992 and became a "sekitori" in July 1995 upon entering the second highest "jūryō" division. He remained in "jūryō" for another two years, but after winning two "jūryō" championships in March and July 1997 he reached "makuuchi", the top division. In May 1998, Chiyotaikai was made "komusubi" and never left the "san'yaku" ranks after that. He won the prestigious Technique Prize three times that year. In January 1999, he won his first top division championship, defeating "yokozuna" Takanohana and Wakanohana on the last
Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall his Chaos stablemate Shinsuke Nakamura. Tanahashi went on to defeat Nakamura in the finals to win the tournament. During the final day of the tournament, Styles pinned Okada in a six-man tag team match, setting up an IWGP Heavyweight Championship rematch between the two, which was eventually announced for October's King of Pro-Wrestling. After winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, Kushida went on to defeat Ricochet on August 16 to make his first successful title defense. The same day, reDRagon defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for