[8] In April 2000, Makabe entered the Super J-Cup, a 16-man single-elimination tournament held in Michinoku Pro, involving junior heavyweights from a number of different promotions; he was eliminated in the first round by Gran Hamada.

[9] Later that month, Makabe also participated in NJPW's Young Lion Cup, a six-man round-robin tournament exclusive to young wrestlers; he finished in first place for the group stage, defeating all of his opponents (Kenzo Suzuki, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wataru Inoue, Katsuyori Shibata and Masakazu Fukuda by forfeit),[10] though he lost to second-place finisher Kenzo Suzuki in the final.

[14] Makabe made his debut in the Tokyo Dome, one of the largest venues in Japan, during NJPW's annual event there on January 4, 2001, teaming with Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a loss to Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka.

[17] On June 8, 2001, as part of a series of interpromotional matches, Makabe and Yuji Nagata entered All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to challenge for the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship, losing to Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai.

[4] Makabe once again wrestled at NJPW's annual Tokyo Dome event on January 4, 2003, competing in the four-man Young Generation Cup tournament, losing in the first round to Yutaka Yoshie.

[29] Makabe entered the second annual New Japan Cup in April 2006, defeating Tatsutoshi Goto in the first round before losing to Yuji Nagata in the quarterfinals.

[33] On September 24, 2006, Makabe entered Apache Pro-Wrestling Army, defeating Kintaro Kanemura on their third anniversary show to revive the WEW Heavyweight Championship, the first official Japanese title of his career.

[35] Makabe teamed with Koshinaka in the G1 Tag League later that month, finishing in last place in their block out of five, ending with two points via a victory over eventual winners Masahiro Chono and Shinsuke Nakamura.

They lost both of their matches in Block D, falling to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Naofumi Yamamoto of Kansai as well as Milano Collection AT and Prince Devitt, representing Hokkaidō.

[39] Makabe teamed with GBH allies Yano and Ishii on January 4, 2007, at Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome, defeating Travis Tomko and AJPW's D'Lo Brown and Buchanan.

[48] Makabe had his strongest showing to date in the G1 Climax in August, finishing first place in his block with six points with pinfall victories over Giant Bernard, Yuji Nagata, and Masahiro Chono before losing in the semifinals to eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi.

[49] Makabe also made it to the semifinals in the G1 Tag League in November, scoring 8 points with Toru Yano in the tournament's single block by defeating the teams of Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi, Akebono and Masahiro Chono, and Gedo and Jado, as well as Giant Bernard in a handicap match when his partner Travis Tomko no-showed the event; Bernard and Tomko, the eventual winners, would defeat Makabe and Yano in the semifinals.

[51] On January 4, 2008, at Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, fresh off of winning Tokyo Sports' Tag Team of the Year award for 2007,[52] Makabe and Toru Yano were defeated by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) as part of an interpromotional card between TNA and NJPW.

Later that month, Makabe participated in the New Japan Cup for the third straight year, defeating Takashi Iizuka and ousted GBH leader Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first two rounds, before falling to eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semifinal.

[53] The two teams battled again, this time for the championship, on April 27, 2008; Makabe and Yano came out on top in their first official defense after Iizuka betrayed Tenzan and allowed the champions to retain, seemingly joining GBH.

[58] After Hiroshi Tanahashi was forced to vacate the IWGP Heavyweight Championship due to an injury, Makabe and Nakamura were booked in a rematch to determine the new champion.

[76] During the 2010 G1 Tag League, where he teamed with Tomoaki Honma, Makabe suffered a neck injury in a match against Masato Tanaka and Tomohiro Ishii that would sideline him indefinitely.

[79][80] On May 3, Makabe formed a new partnership with Satoshi Kojima, after their match against each other, when the rest of Kojima-gun, aided by the returning Minoru Suzuki, turned on their leader.

[82] Makabe continued his rivalry with the Suzuki-gun by scoring victories over Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Lance Archer, before being defeated by the group's leader Minoru Suzuki in a grudge match on October 10 at Destruction '11.

[84] After picking up three wins and one loss in their first four matches, Makabe and Kojima were defeated by the Billion Powers (Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi) on November 4, causing them to narrowly miss advancing to the semifinals of the tournament.

[87] As a result, Makabe was granted a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but he was unable to dethrone the defending champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi, in their title match on July 1.

[88] Makabe ended his long rivalry with the Suzuki-gun on September 23 at Destruction, when he defeated the stable's newest member, Kengo Mashimo, in a singles match.

[108] In December, Makabe and Honma made it to the semifinals of the 2013 World Tag League, before being eliminated by the Bullet Club team of Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, following outside interference from Fale.

[112] On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, Makabe and Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata to earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

[113][114] Makabe and Tanahashi received their title shot on June 21 at Dominion 6.21, but were defeated by Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.

[127][128] In December, Makabe and Honma won their block in the 2015 World Tag League with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament.

[129] On December 9, Makabe and Honma defeated Los Ingobernables de Japón (Evil and Tetsuya Naito) in the finals to win the 2015 World Tag League.

[130] On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Makabe and Honma defeated Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

[137] On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Makabe and Honma took part in a three-way match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, which was won by Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.