He debuted as a wrestler on his 21st birthday in a match against future tag team partner Hiroyoshi Yamamoto, who would later adopt the stage name of Hiroyoshi Tenzan. In 1994 he defeated Manabu Nakanishi in the Young Lions Cup finals, winning the tournament. In the end of that year he went to Europe, including a spell in Orig Williams' British Wrestling Federation as face-painted Suzuki Karimoto,[citation needed] and returned to NJPW in January 1996.