the semifinals, after original block winner Ryusuke Taguchi suffered a hip injury. He was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals on June 9 by Alex Shelley. On July 20, Michinoku and Taichi received another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by the defending champions, the Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero). On September 29 at Destruction, Michinoku and Taichi failed to earn another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated in a number one contender's match by Time Splitters. However, when Alex Shelley was sidelined with an injury, Michinoku and Taichi were given the title shot and, on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling, defeated the Forever Hooligans to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Michinoku and Taichi made their first successful title defense on November 1, defeating Gedo and Jado at their self-produced independent event. After a reign of 26 days, Michinoku and Taichi lost the title to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on November 9 at Power Struggle. In January 2015, Suzuki-gun entered a storyline, where the entire stable invaded the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion. Michinoku and El Desperado won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on March 15 by defeating Choukibou-gun (Hajime Ohara and Kenoh) and No Mercy (Daisuke Harada and Genba Hirayanagi) in a three-way match. They lost the title to Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada in their fifth defense on October 4. Suzuki-gun's Noah invasion storyline concluded in December 2016, which led to the stable's return to NJPW on January 5, 2017. In May, Michinoku took part in the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors, where he finished second to last in his block with a record of two wins and five losses. From March 2018 until May 2019, he was the manager and occasional tag team partner of Zack Sabre Jr. In May 2019, Michinoku participated in the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors. Going winless in his first 5 matches, he injured his ankle during his 6th match against Shingo Takagi. He would then forfeit his remaining matches, finishing the tournament with 0 wins and 9 losses. Michinoku would disappear shortly after to focus on starting his new promotion, Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out. In November 2021, through the NJPW website, it was announced that Michinoku would return after 2 years and