Takeshi Rikio
Following the jump to Noah, the original Burning split up and instead Kobashi took rookie wrestlers Kenta and Takeshi Rikio under his wing, while also forming new partnerships with veterans Tamon Honda and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, forming the second incarnation of Burning. However, this version of Burning got off to a slow start, when Kobashi was forced to undergo surgeries on both his elbow and knees in early 2001. He eventually returned to the ring in February 2002, but during his return match tore his anterior cruciate ligament, which sidelined him for further five months. With his injuries behind for now, Kobashi led Burning to a storyline rivalry with former partner Jun Akiyama's new stable, Sternness. During 2002, Kentaro Shiga left Sternness to return to Burning and, on October 14, teamed with Kobashi and Kenta to win the One Day 6 Man Tag Tournament, defeating the Sternness trio of Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito and Makoto Hashi in the finals. In March 2003, Kobashi won the GHC Heavyweight Championship, which he held for two full years, before losing it to Takeshi Rikio, who had now left Burning. In July 2004, Kobashi's newest trainee, Go Shiozaki, made his professional wrestling debut as a member of Burning, quickly establishing himself as a top heavyweight prospect. Meanwhile, Kobashi's number one protégé and Burning stablemate, Kenta, rose to the top of Noah's junior heavyweight division, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship in July 2005. Kobashi, teaming with another Burning stablemate Tamon Honda, also went on to become a two-time GHC Tag Team Champion, before being sidelined in June 2006 after being diagnosed with kidney cancer. Though Kobashi returned to in-ring action in December 2007, Burning had effectively been dissolved during the past year with its former members moving onto new alliances. On February 26, 2008, Kobashi, Akiyama, Kanemaru and Shiga, the four original members of Burning, reunited for one night only, when they were defeated by Naomichi Marufuji, Mitsuharu Misawa, Mushiking Terry and Yoshinari Ogawa in Kobashi's twentieth anniversary match. In April 2012, Go Shiozaki and Tamon Honda revived Burning for the 2012 Global Tag League. However, winning only three of their seven matches in the tournament, they failed to qualify for the finals.