The two had a history dating back to 2005, when they took part in NJPW's introductory test together.[23] While both failed to pass the test, Yoshi-Hashi felt that Sanada was a quitter for seeking employment in another promotion (All Japan Pro Wrestling), while he himself repeated the test until passing it in his third attempt.[2] On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Yoshi-Hashi scored arguably the biggest win of his career at that point by submitting Sanada in a tag team match, where he teamed with Chaos stablemate Tomohiro Ishii and Sanada with L.I.J. stablemate Bushi.[24] Following the win, Yoshi-Hashi was granted entry into the 2016 G1 Climax, his first G1 Climax tournament.[25] In his opening match in the tournament on July 22, Yoshi-Hashi scored another big win over Kenny Omega.[26] On August 13, he finished the tournament last in his block with a record of three wins and six losses.[27] Despite this, Yoshi-Hashi's opening match win resulted in Omega, after winning the entire tournament, nominating him as his first challenger for the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship match contract.[28] On September 22 at Destruction in Hiroshima, Yoshi-Hashi unsuccessfully challenged Omega for the contract.[29] On November 5 at Power Struggle, Yoshi-Hashi teamed with Tomohiro Ishii to unsuccessfully challenge Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[30] At the end of the year, Yoshi-Hashi and Okada took part in the 2016 World Tag League, finishing third in their block with a record of four wins and three losses.[31]