Liger teamed with The Great Sasuke to defeat Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Kendo Kashin to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After failing to advance in the 1999 Best of the Super Juniors, Liger and Sasuke lost the tag team titles to Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa on July 13. At Jingu Climax, Liger and El Samurai unsuccessfully challenged Otani and Takaiwa for the titles. At Final Dome, Liger defeated Kendo Kashin to win his record-setting tenth Junior Heavyweight Championship. After exchanging the title with Juventud Guerrera in WCW, Liger returned to NJPW to retain the title against Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka before entering the 2000 Super J-Cup. Liger defeated Tiger Mask, Men's Teioh, Gran Hamada and Cima to win his second consecutive Super J-Cup. After successfully defending the Junior Heavyweight Championship against El Samurai, Liger lost the title to Tatsuhito Takaiwa on July 20, 2000. Kishin Liger (1996, 2006, 2012, 2019) On October 20, 1996, The Great Muta faced off in a match with Liger. As the match progressed, Muta resorted to his underhand tactics that had become his style over the years. He tore at Liger's mask and eventually ripped it off, but Liger kept his face down on the mat. After grabbing a chair outside the ring, Muta entered the ring but before he could hit Liger with it, Liger stood up and revealed his face to be painted pale white with red writings and spit mist into Muta's face (another Muta trademark). He tore off his bodysuit and revealed a painted chest, then proceeded to fight more aggressively the rest of the match, despite losing the match to Muta. The character debuted in the match against Muta was dubbed "Kishin Liger" by NJPW. On July 30, 2006, Liger revived the Kishin Liger gimmick and faced off with rival Bad Boy Hido in NJPW. The story was that Hido had cut a piece of Liger's hair and Liger vowed revenge, so he transformed into Kishin Liger. Liger won the match with a brainbuster onto a steel chair. Liger's next appearance as Kishin Liger took place in June 2012 and was brought on by Taichi tearing his mask to pieces. Kishin Liger returned again on September 22, 2019 at Destruction in Kobe, when Minoru Suzuki removed Liger's mask. Kishin would spit mist into Suzuki's face and attempt to stab him with a spike, before giving