On December 15, 2002, he won his first singles title when he topped Kenichiro Arai for the NWA World Welterweight Title, but six days later he was stripped of the belt because he won it due to outside interference. He won it a second time from Arai cleanly on May 27 of the following year, but lost it to Ryo Saito on September 30. He also had two reigns as UWA World Trios Champion, the first time with Kanda and Dragon in July, and the second with Dragon and Masaaki Mochizuki in October.