Tokyo Gurentai
On July 10, 2013, Keiji Mutoh held a press conference to announce the foundation of his new Wrestle-1 promotion, announcing Yamato as part of its roster. During Wrestle-1's inaugural event on September 8, Yamato wrestled in the opening match, where he and the debuting Daiki Inaba defeated Tokyo Gurentai (Mazada and Nosawa Rongai). During the second event on September 15, Yamato took part in the debut match of another Wrestle-1 trainee, Seiki Yoshioka, picking up the win in a singles match. Through Wrestle-1's working relationship with Pro Wrestling Zero1, Yamato made his debut for the promotion on September 28, teaming with Yasufumi Nakanoue in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kazma Sakamoto and Ryoji Sai, representing a stable led by Wrestle-1's Masayuki Kono. The following day, Yamato produced his own small outdoor professional wrestling event in Chiba, during which he and Daiki Inaba defeated Kai and Ryota Hama in a tag team match. Yamato produced a larger event on October 26 in Ōamishirasato, Chiba, where he and Kai defeated Nosawa Rongai and Yoshihiro Takayama in a main event tag team match. On October 6, Yamato surprisingly announced that he wanted to join Tokyo Gurentai, with whom he had feuded since the start of Wrestle-1, but his direct appeal was turned down by Nosawa. Despite being rejected, Yamato appeared at the November 16 Korakuen Hall event with a new villainous persona, bleached blonde look and the new ring name Yamato (written in Roman alphabets and stylized in all capital letters), trying to force his way into Tokyo Gurentai. As Tokyo Gurentai still refused to accept him as an official member, Yamato worked the rest of the November tour under his old look and ring name, going up against members of the stable. On December 1, Yamato again appeared under his Tokyo Gurentai look, teaming with Nosawa and Mazada in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba and Seiki Yoshioka, with Yamato scoring the pinfall over Inaba. Later that same event, Yamato's outside interference ruined a three-way match between Kaz Hayashi, El Pantera and Shuji Kondo and led to a three-way nine-man tag team match between those three, the team of Wu, Inaba and Yoshioka, and Yamato, Nosawa and Mazada. The Tokyo Gurentai trio lost the match, after Mazada turned on Yamato and hit him with a "shinai". On January 31, Yamato apologized to Daiki Inaba and pledged that his days of trying to get into Tokyo Gurentai were over.