Minoru Fujita
Originally aiming to step away from pro wrestling after leaving Zero1 and doing one last run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Takaiwa got a job at a building maintenance company in late 2009 and began competing more sparingly on the independent scene in early 2010, primarily working for Jun Kasai's Freedoms. He was also named head coach of Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW)'s dojo, and made occasional appearances in Kensuke Office as Black Tiger. Takaiwa left his second job in 2012 and returned to Zero1 for the first time in four years to take part in the Tenkaichi Junior Tournament, though he was unsuccessful, losing to Jonathan Gresham in the semi final. In May 2013, he took part in Freedoms' tournament to crown the first ever King of Freedom World Champion, beating Keizo Matsuda, Brahman Shu, Minoru Fujita to reach the final where he lost to Takashi Sasaki. In March 2014 he partnered up with Sasaki in the King of Freedom Tag Title tournament. The two were successful and reached the final where they were unable to defeat Great Kojika and The Winger. In September, he took part in Zero1 and Noah's joint show, briefly reviving his old team with Shinjiro Otani to beat Akitoshi Saito and Masa Kitamiya. In September 2015, they reformed for good, and captured the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Takuya Sugawara and Brother Yasshi. Otani and Takaiwa held the belts until April 2016, when they were defeated by Fujita "Jr." Hayato and Ikuto Hidaka. On March 26, 2017, Takaiwa officially re-signed with Zero1 after almost 8 years as a freelancer. In his return match, he was defeated by Shinjiro Otani. Takaiwa continues to make regular appearances in Zero1 to this day.