Takuya Sugawara
In the beginning of 2008, most of Zero1-Max's roster was split up into two opposing camps; Masato Tanaka's Sword Army and Takao Omori's Axe Army. Sawa, along with old acquaintance Ikuto Hidaka decided to join the Sword Army and went on to represent the stable in several matches against members of their rival stable. On July 20, Sawa and Hidaka unsuccessfully challenged Axe Army representatives Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship. A rematch between the two teams took place on August 3 in Korakuen Hall, where Sawa and Hidaka were victorious, becoming the new NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions. Sawa and Hidaka made their first successful defense on August 31 in Battlarts, defeating Yuki Ishikawa and Yuta Yoshikawa. On October 28, Sawa won a one-night qualifying tournament to earn a spot in the 2008 Tenkaichi Jr. tournament. After defeating Takuya Sugawara in his opening round match, Sawa was eliminated from the 2008 Tenkaichi Jr. in the semifinals by Tatsuhito Takaiwa, who went on to win the entire tournament. On December 17, Sawa again unsuccessfully challenged his tag team partner Ikuto Hidaka for the Zero1 International Junior Heavyweight Championship. On February 7, 2009, Sawa and Hidaka made their second successful defense of the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, first in Zero1, against Great Sasuke and Osamu Namiguchi. Sawa continued teaming with Hidaka throughout 2009, with the two making successful title defenses against the teams of Katsumi Usuda and Minoru, Minoru Fujita and Yusaku Obata, Speed of Sounds (Hercules Senga and Tsutomu Oosugi), and previous champions Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara. On October 24, Sawa and Hidaka defeated Kamikaze and Kohei Sato to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship, becoming double tag team champions. In December, Sawa and Hidaka took part in the 2009 Furinkazan, a tag team tournament featuring both junior heavyweight and heavyweight wrestlers. After two wins and one draw, Sawa and Hidaka were defeated in the final day of the tournament by old rivals Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara and, as a result, finished second in their round-robin block, narrowly missing the finals of the tournament. On January 27, 2010, Sawa and Hidaka lost the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship to the 2009 Furinkazan winners, Akebono and Shinjiro Otani. The two then resumed defending the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, defeating Dragon Gate representatives Masaaki Mochizuki and Super Shisa on February 28, and American promotion Chikara representatives The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian) on May 8. Finally, after a reign of 766 days, the longest in the title's history, and eight successful defenses, Sawa and Hidaka lost the NWA International Lightweight Championship to Kaijin Habu Otoko and Takuya Sugawara on September 8, 2010.