Minoru Fujita
On September 20, 2014, Sanada, using his villainous Great Sanada persona, made his debut for American independent promotion Chikara, entering the annual Rey de Voladores tournament. After defeating Amasis, AR Fox and Orlando Christopher in his opening four-way elimination match, Sanada was defeated in the finals of the tournament the following day by Shynron. After leaving TNA in April 2015, Sanada began working more regularly on the American independent circuit. On May 6, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Sanada as part of their roster. He made his debut for the promotion on July 11, teaming with Takaaki Watanabe in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson). Though now living in the United States, in July Sanada flew back to Japan to take part in a WWE tryout held by William Regal. In August 2016, Sanada teamed with Minoru Fujita and Mazada to defeat the team of Harashima, Kotaro Suzuki and Masato Tanaka at a Tokyo Gurentai event.