Okimoto's first apparition in M-Pro was at the "Futaritabi Tag Team League", wrestling under the mask of Michinoku Ranger Silver with Michinoku Ranger Gold as his partner, doing a super sentai gimmick not unlike they did in HUSTLE. The duo got important victories over Los Salseros Japoneses (Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda) and Jinsei Shinzaki and Shinjitsu Nohashi, but they did not win the league, which was taken by The Great Sasuke and GARUDA. In December, the team was dissolved and Okimoto adopted the gimmick of Rasse, a masked character representing the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri. He first teamed up with the former Ranger Gold, now known as Shanao, and the two gained a title shot for the Tohoku Tag Titles against Great Sasuke and Dick Togo, but were beaten.