Masaaki Mochizuki
At "Osaka Crush Night", Yasuraoka teamed with Koki Kitahara against Arashi and Masaaki Mochizuki in a losing effort. On November 9, Storm and Yasuraoka regained the International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship by defeating El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger. The following month, at "Ryogoku Crush Night", Storm and Yasuraoka made their first title defense against Tiger Mask and Masaaki Mochizuki. The duo would lose the titles to Battle Ranger and Masaaki Mochizuki on February 12, 1997. The duo received a rematch against Ranger and Mochizuki for the titles at the following month's "Battle Angel", in which they lost. Shortly after, Yasuraoka had a brief stint with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he debuted as a villain introduced by Sonny Onoo on the May 17 episode of "Saturday Night", where he defeated enhancement talent Julio Sanchez. After the match, Yasuraoka continued to assault Sanchez until Rey Misterio, Jr. made the save, leading to a match between the two at Slamboree, which Misterio won. Yasuraoka then returned to WAR.