Toshiaki Kawada
After losing the belt for the last time in 1996, Fuchi was relegated to the opening "legends" bouts, mostly in teams with Haruka Eigen opposing AJPW founder Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura. In 2000, when Mitsuharu Misawa defected from AJPW to form Pro Wrestling Noah, Fuchi was one of two (the other being Toshiaki Kawada) native wrestlers who remained with the promotion. As a result, Fuchi was pushed for a while into the upper regions of the card, teaming with Toshiaki Kawada and becoming a top contender for the World Tag Team Championship. Fuchi's first title in eight years was the All Asia Tag Team Championship with fellow veteran Genichiro Tenryu.