Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Taichi and Taka Michinoku) in an eight-man tag team match. Rush opened his G1 Climax tournament on August 1 with a win over Hirooki Goto, avenging his loss from Fantastica Mania. After three wins, one over IWGP Heavyweight Championship contender Tetsuya Naito, and five losses, Rush was eliminated from the tournament on August 11, eventually finishing last in his block. Upon Rush's return to CMLL, he continued his rivalry with El Terrible going into the 2012 Universal Championship tournament, where he made it to the finals of his block, before losing to El Terrible, after which he was attacked by both El Terrible and his stablemate Rey Bucanero. On September 9, Rush defeated Bucanero in a steel cage match to retain the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship. Rush's rivalry with El Terrible culminated five days later in the main event of CMLL's 79th Anniversary Show, where Rush was victorious in a Hair vs. Hair Lucha de Apuestas, forcing his rival to have his head shaved. In late 2012 Rush and Diamante Azul participated in NJPW's 2012 World Tag League under the name CMLL Asesino (CMLL Assassins). Rush and Diamante ended the tournament on November 28, 2012, with just four points after victories over Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) and Complete Players (Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi), finishing in the last place in Group B, after losses to the teams of Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano), K.E.S. (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.), Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man), and finally Black Dynamite (MVP and Shelton Benjamin). Rush scored both of his team's pinfall wins and was not pinned or submitted in any of the losses.{{efn|'World Tag League 2012 tournament results }} Rush and Azul finished their tour with a pay-per-view on December 2, losing to Jado and Yoshi-Hashi in a tag team match, with Azul once again being the one pinned for the win. On January 15, 2013, Rush gave up the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship to get another shot at El Terrible's CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. On January 18, Rush returned to Japan to take part in the three-day Fantastica Mania 2013 event. During the first night, he defeated former rival Yoshi-Hashi in a singles match. The following night, Rush was pinned for the win by Rey Escorpión in a six-man tag team match, where he, Hiroshi Tanahashi and