Sanshiro Takagi
On December 29, the Hero! and Kudo ended the year by defeating Seiya Morohashi and Tomohiko Hashimoto, and Mikami and Onryo in a three-way Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. They went on to lose the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Gentaro and Takashi Sasaki on February 11, 2004. In May, Hero! entered the 2004 King of DDT tournament, beating one of the promotions' top stars Sanshiro Takagi to make it to the finals, before losing to Poison Sawada Julie. Hero! quickly bounced back in Big Japan Pro Wrestling, winning a One Night Six Man Tag Tournament with Jaki Numazawa and Super-X on June 13. Back in DDT, Hero! and Kudo took part in the 2004 KO-D Tag League, eventually defeating Danshoku Dino and Glenn "Q" Spectre on September 30 to not only win the tournament, but to also regain the KO-D Tag Team Championship. However, Kudo's and Hero's second reign lasted just a month, before they were defeated by Seiya Morohashi and Tanomusaku Toba on November 2. On November 8, Kudo debuted for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, teaming with Kudo to defeat Kota Ibushi and Seiya Morohashi.