left of their feud that they had going on for the last few months. He then got into a feud with Takagi. They fought in a match on June 29 to determine the #1 contender for CIMA's Open the Dream Gate Championship, but the match ended in a one-hour draw. They were soon scheduled to do battle again on July 27, but this time it would be for the Open the Dream Gate Title itself, due to CIMA vacating it because of a neck injury. Hulk lost that match, but his performance impressed Takagi enough that he retracted his statement about Hulk being weak and shook hands with him. He then got into a feud with Gamma, and he as Black Hulk fought Gamma as Gamma Daiou on November 16, which he won by count-out after putting Gamma through a table outside the ring with his E.V.O. finisher. In March 2009, YAMATO began provoking him, and even offered him membership into Real Hazard under his Black Hulk persona. He responded by randomly attacking members of Real Hazard under his Black Hulk persona until YAMATO and the rest of the group got the better of him on April 15. YAMATO then challenged him to a match, and he did not care whether he fought Hulk as Black Hulk or his normal self. Hulk fought YAMATO as Black Hulk and won by referee stoppage. On June 7, he won the Triangle Gate titles with Masato Yoshino and PAC, and they held them for three months before losing them to Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono. He challenged his stablemate Naruki Doi for the Open the Dream Gate Title on November 23, but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. However, five days later, he became the inaugural Open the Freedom Gate Champion of Dragon Gate USA by winning a 14-man tournament at DGUSA Freedom Fight. On July 11, 2010, BxB Hulk lost a Hair vs. Hair match against Shingo Takagi and was as a result shaved bald. On October 29, 2010 Hulk successfully retained his Open the Freedom Gate Championship by defeating Shingo in the main event of Dragon Gate USA's inaugural iPPV "Bushido: Code of the Warrior". On January 28, 2011, at the United: NYC pay-per-view, Hulk lost the Open the Freedom Gate Championship to YAMATO. On April 14, 2011, Hulk, PAC and Susumu Yokosuka failed to win the Open the Triangle