Toru Owashi
On February 16, 2007, Kudo returned to Chikara, when he, Miyawaki and Yoshiaki Yago entered the 2007 King of Trios tournament. After wins over Team DDT (American Balloon, Danshoku Dino and Masamune) and The Iron Saints (Brandon, Sal and Vito Thomaselli), the trio defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chuck Taylor, Gran Akuma and Icarus) in their semifinal match on February 18. Later that same day, Kudo, Miyawaki and Yago were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Jigsaw, Mike Quackenbush and Shane Storm. Back in DDT, Kudo received another shot at the KO-D Openweight Championship on July 1, but was this time defeated by Koo. During the second half of 2007, Kudo began regularly teaming with Yasu Urano and on September 23, the two defeated the Nuru Nuru Brothers (Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga) to become the number one contenders to the KO-D Tag Team Championship. Kudo and Urano then went on to unsuccessfully challenge Antonio Honda and Prince Togo for the title on November 3. On March 1, 2008, Kudo returned to Chikara, when he, Miyawaki and Susumu entered the 2008 King of Trios tournament as Team Japan. After wins over The Southern Saints (Marcus O'Neil, Reno Diamond and Shawn Reed) and Team AZW (AkuA, Immortal Black and Immortal White), the trio was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals by BLKOUT (Eddie Kingston, Joker and Ruckus). On April 9, Kudo and Urano entered DDT's 2008 KO-D Tag Team Title League, where they made it to the finals, before losing to Mikami and Tanomusaku Toba. On May 6, Kudo won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship by pinning Danshoku Dino in a tag team match, where he teamed with Urano and Dino with Masa Takanashi. He would go on to lose the title to Gorgeous Matsuno on June 11. On July 6, Kudo, Urano and Antonio Honda defeated Koo, Super Vampire and Toru Owashi to win the DDT Jiyugaoka Six-Person Tag Team Championship. On July 20, Kudo made it to the finals of a tournament to determine the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship, but was there defeated by Kota Ibushi. In early 2009, Kudo made several appearances as the Frenchman Jacques de Atsushinu, teaming with Louis Takanashi XIV, Masa Takanashi's French character, working against the Italian Four Horsemen.