 Over the years, Otani earned the J-Crown and was also part of the first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Tatsuhito Takaiwa in 1999, having legendary feuds with Jyushin Thunder Liger, El Samurai, his own partner Kanemoto, Minoru Tanaka and many others.Also around that time, he started associating himself with Shinya Hashimoto, his future business partner.In 2000, New Japan booker Riki Choshu, eager to push his protégé Kensuke Sasaki above everyone else, downgraded the junior heavyweight members to mere jobbers for the heavyweights.