GHC Heavyweight Championship
His return match was on February 24, 2002, and featured Kobashi reforming his pairing with Misawa to face Akiyama and New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) Yuji Nagata. His knees again gave out on him during the match. After taking another five months to recuperate he returned and Noah began to slowly build towards him winning their top prize, the GHC Heavyweight Championship.