 On December 2, Sugiura turned on Suzuki-gun, after Minoru Suzuki had unsuccessfully challenged Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.In January 2017, Sugiura formed an alliance with Kaito Kiyomiya, almost serving as a mentor.The two began regularly teaming together, and were eventually joined by Kenoh, who turned on his tag team partner Masa Kitamiya during a match against Sugiura and Kiyomiya, aligning himself with Sugiura in the process.