Team Zero was a short-lived spin-off of Atsushi Onita's ZEN, which was formed on August 21, 1998. Onita went on a leave of absence after the dissolution of ZEN because he felt that he was not being booked properly and he was enraged at putting over Kodo Fuyuki. After working a storyline in ECW, Onita returned to FMW on July 20 after Team No Respect attacked FMW President Shoichi Arai and Onita made the save for Arai with preliminary wrestlers Yoshinori Sasaki and FMW's veteran enhancement talent Gosaku Goshogawara as Mr. Pogo #2 (Goshogawara had been given the character by the original Mr. Pogo after Pogo retired from FMW in 1996). At Atsushi Onita Presents Liar, Liar, Onita, Arai, Pogo and Sasaki defeated Go Ito and Team No Respect members Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa and Yukihiro Kanemura in a weapons deathmatch to release Onita's former ZEN teammates Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hideki Hosaka from TNR's slavery and retain Arai's post as FMW President.
