On October 25, 1990, Halme made his debut for the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), defeating The Soul Taker in what was billed as a "boxer vs. wrestler" match. Halme was brought in as an outsider and billed as a professional boxing champion with his matches billed as "mixed martial arts" matches. He was instantly pushed as a "big deal", scoring wins over the likes of Scott Norton, Vader and most notably Shinya Hashimoto on December 26, 1990. Halme was main eventing shows regularly as was pushed as the biggest star of a crew that included the likes of Bobby Eaton, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero and Fit Finlay. Despite Halme not getting over with NJPW fans, the company was doing strong business during his push.