Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) owner Paul Heyman became interested in Tanaka through ECW's working relationship with FMW, and eventually hired him. Tanaka debuted in ECW on March 1, 1998 at Living Dangerously, defeating Doug Furnas in a match that, compared to Tanaka's extremely well-received future matches, was very much hated by the fans in attendance, who greeted the unusually sloppy wrestlers with a chorus of boos throughout their fumbled offense. In July 1998 he reprised his feud with Awesome, who he defeated at Heat Wave 1998.