Thirty years later he inherited Liechtenstein again after his nephew Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl died without male issue.

Born in 1696 at Prague, Josef Wenzel was the eldest son of Prince Philipp Erasmus of Liechtenstein (11 September 1664 – 13 January 1704) and Countess Christina Theresa von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (12 October 1665 – 14 April 1730).

Hans-Adam therefore chose Josef Wenzel as his heir, but in 1718 the latter negotiated with Anton Florian and swapped the County of Vaduz and the Lordship of Schellenberg in exchange for the Dominion of Rumburk.

He also married Anton Florian's daughter Anna Maria Antonie, who was Wenzel's cousin.

His first venture was in 1717, when he fought against the Ottoman Turks in the Austro-Turkish War, alongside famed military commander Prince Eugene of Savoy.

On 19 April 1718 Josef Wenzel married his cousin, Princess Anna Maria Antonie of Liechtenstein (1699–1753), daughter of Anton Florian and Eleonore Barbara von Thun und Hohenstein, in 1718.