Mr. Gannosuke
Nakagawa began feuding with Katsutoshi Niiyama, after Niiyama joined the Funk Masters of Wrestling and the two competed in a match at 8th Anniversary Show, which Nakagawa won. After the match, both men embraced and Niiyama left FMW. Nakagawa won his second World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship by teaming with Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka to defeat Hisakatsu Oya, Mr. Gannosuke and The Gladiator on August 31, 1997. At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Nakagawa participated in a Royal Rumble match, which was won by Tetsuhiro Kuroda. They lost the title to the newly formed stable ZEN members Atsushi Onita, Hido and Tetsuhiro Kuroda on October 14. Nakagawa grew upset with his position in the company as FMW President Shoichi Arai had promised him of a push but he was restricted to wrestle in the undercard. On December 13, Nakagawa attacked Hayabusa after Hayabusa praised FMW and screamed at him for praising the company after it had lied to him for giving him the push but had almost released him. On the final day of the Super Extreme Wrestling War tour, Nakagawa joined ZEN by rescuing Atsushi Onita from an assault by his teammates Mr. Gannosuke and Yukihiro Kanemura after Onita had lost a WarGames match to Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka and Jinsei Shinzaki.