text: On August 5, Hisakatsu Oya, Mr. Gannosuke and The Gladiator defeated Fuyuki-Gun at a Fuyuki Army show to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to the team of Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa and Masato Tanaka on August 31. At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Gladiator lost the Double Championship to Masato Tanaka, thus ending his Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship reign at 489 days and his Independent Heavyweight Championship reign at 291 days, making him the longest reigning Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and the longest reigning Independent Heavyweight Champion.
  ZEN and departure (1997–1998)
  Following Terry Funk's departure from FMW, Funk Masters (FMW) of Wrestling began to cripple as Atsushi Onita denounced himself as a FMW wrestler and formed ZEN on September 30, 1997, to feud with FMW. On October 21, Super Leather and The Gladiator lost a match to their former teammates Hisakatsu Oya and Mr. Gannosuke, after which Gladiator attacked Leather and officially ended Funk Masters of Wrestling. Later that night, Gladiator attacked Hayabusa after ZEN members defeated Hayabusa's team in the main event and then Gladiator raised the flag of ZEN and joined ZEN, which marked the first time in his career that he had become Atsushi Onita's ally after having feuded with him for the past seven years. Gladiator had lost his significance as a main event competitor after losing the Double Championship despite being the longest reigning champion and became a mid-card member of ZEN. The group turned fan favorites in the fall of 1997 when three of its members Mr. Gannosuke, Yukihiro Kanemura and Hido turned on Atsushi Onita and left the group and they would form Team No Respect in 1998.