the tournament. Three days later, at Grand Champion Carnival, Muto faced Genichiro Tenryu in a match for the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship after Kawada was forced to vacate the title due to injury. Muto lost the match. The following month, on May 12, Muto teamed with George Hines and Kaz Hayashi as the trio won the Giant Baba Six-Man Cup tournament. On July 17, Muto and Kea lost the World Tag Team Championship to KroniK. At the Nippon Budokan on July 20, Muto wrestled as three different characters on the card: "Kokushi Muso", defeating Kaz Hayashi on the second match, himself in a six-man tag team match in the mid-card, and in the second-to-last match, he defeated Satoshi Kojima, under his "Great Koji" persona, as The Great Muta. On September 30, during an All Japan 30th Anniversary party at the famed Tokyo City Hotel, Mokoto Baba officially announced Muto's appointment as the new president of All Japan, transferring all of the Baba family stock to him. Despite this position, however, Muto continued to wrestle full-time for the promotion. At Royal Road 30 Giant Battle In Budokan Final Battle on October 27, Muto under his Great Muta moniker, defeated Genichiro Tenryu to win his second Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. The following month, he lost to Bob Sapp in a non-title match at Wrestle-1. Muto then entered the Real World Tag League alongside Animal Warrior but failed to advance in the tournament. Muta successfully defended the title against The Gladiator in his first title defense on January 13, 2003. On January 19, Muto teamed with Goldberg to defeat KroniK in a tag team match, which led to KroniK being injured in the match and being forced to retire. On February 23, Muta lost the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to Shinya Hashimoto. Various feuds and title reigns (2003–2008) Shortly after his title loss, Muto entered the 2003 Champion Carnival, defeating John Tenta in the quarter-final but lost to Arashi in the semi-final. On June 8, Muto teamed with Arashi to participate in a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship, which they won by defeating Gigantes and The Gladiator in the semi-final and Jimmy Yang and Satoshi Kojima in the final. On July 13, Muto failed to become the #1 contender for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship by losing to Toshiaki Kawada. After successfully defending the tag team titles, Muto and