Yoshinari Ogawa
From 1993–1996, Kikuchi largely remained in the midcard with little to no direction, and continued to receive shots at the Jr. title and All Asia Tag titles but continually failed to win either. On July 24, 1996, Kikuchi defeated Fuchi to finally win the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. He went on to make two successful title defenses and hold the title throughout the remainder of 1996 before eventually losing the title to Yoshinari Ogawa on January 15, 1997.