Tatsutoshi Goto
Kabuki retired in 1998. He had a series of retirement matches. On July 20, he would main event at the Tokyo Korakuen Hall in IWA Japan by teaming up with Kendo Nagasaki to wrestle Keisuke Yamada and Shigeo Okumura; his last bout in the independent circuit. On August 8 he teamed up with The Great Muta to defeat Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, one of the major Japanese circuits. (Giant Baba would not let him retire in All Japan Pro Wrestling due to his jump to SWS.) September 7 was the grand finale for Kabuki, as he teamed up with Terry Funk and Doug Gilbert to defeat Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, and Metalface - symbolically his last match involving foreign wrestlers.