[1][3][4] While also making appearances for Kageki Pro as the masked character Nasty Black Panther, Takahashi remained with WDF for two years, before becoming a freelancer in 2001.

[15] On November 1, Gentaro won his first title in DDT, when he and Yoshiya defeated Mikami and Thanomsak Toba to win the vacant KO-D Tag Team Championship.

[16] On June 6, 2002, Gentaro received his first shot at DDT's top singles title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, when he unsuccessfully challenged Kintaro Kanemura.

[7] In July, Gentaro reunited with Takashi Sasaki, under the team name Akarangers, to take part in the 2002 KO-D Tag League, where they would finish third.

[18] On January 4, 2003, Gentaro made his first appearance as the kabuki mask wearing Benten, taking part in a battle royal for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship.

[24] On September 30, Gentaro won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship two times during a ten-minute battle royal, but was unable to leave the match with the title.

[25] From October 2004 to December 2009, Gentaro only made fifteen appearances for DDT, but still managed to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship for the third time on April 9, 2008, and losing it two days later.

[35] After three successful title defenses, Gentaro and Urano lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Munenori Sawa and Shigehiro Irie on June 4.

[36] On June 19, Gentaro cashed in his "Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract, but was defeated in his KO-D Openweight Championship match by the defending champion, Shuji Ishikawa.

[37] Granma folded shortly afterwards, following the retirement of Dick Togo on June 30, and Gentaro and Urano failing to recapture the KO-D Tag Team Championship on July 24.

[40] On July 30, Gentaro returned to referee a four-way tag team match, after which he surprised one of the competitors, Mio Shirai, and pinned her to become the new Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

[42][43] This led to a match on August 17 at DDT's biggest event of the year, Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2014, where Gentaro and Mikami defeated Akito and Yasu Urano.

[50][51] In December 2003, Gentaro, Daigoro Kashiwa, Hi69, Kazma, Psycho and Teppei Ishizaka made it to the finals of the Survivor-K tournament, before being defeated by Kengo Mashimo, Kunio Toshima, Mike Lee Jr., Miyawaki, Super-X and Yuu Yamagata.

[56] Afterwards, Gentaro took a four-month break from Kaientai Dojo to concentrate on his work in Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, defeating Psycho in his return match on June 11.

[67] Afterwards, Gentaro began spending more time in his new home promotion, Pro Wrestling Freedoms, but returned on April 2, 2010, to lose the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Marines Mask II.

[73] Gentaro returned to Kaientai Dojo on July 17, 2014, unsuccessfully challenging Taka Michinoku for the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

[77] Following the match, Gentaro and Matsumoto formed a tag team, wrestling Keita Yano and Munenori Sawa to a fifteen-minute time limit draw on April 7.

[79] On April 17, when Matsumoto and Kasai were named the number one contenders to the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship, held by Kazumi Shimouna and Nanae Takahashi of Passion Red, Gentaro interrupted the announcement and demanded to be included in the match.

When Emi Sakura agreed to change the match, Keita Yano entered the ring and attacked Matsumoto, revealing himself as Gentaro's partner.

[82] As a result, Gentaro and Ichii were granted a shot at the title on September 23, where they defeated Tomiya and Kodaka to become the new International Ribbon Tag Team Champions.

[102] On March 26, Gentaro unsuccessfully challenged Jun Kasai for American promotion Combat Zone Wrestling's (CZW) Ultraviolent Underground Championship in a "Pool of Blood Deathmatch".