Mio Shirai
Bridle made his Japanese debut on 30 August 2012, when he, working under the ring name "Backpacker Joe", teamed with El Hijo del Pantera and Lin Byron in a six-person tag team match, where they defeated Josh O'Brien, Takuya Kito and Yusuke Kodama, with Bridle pinning O'Brien for the win. Following the match, Bridle reintroduced himself as "Adam Angel", starting a partnership and a romance storyline with Lin Byron. Angel and Byron were victorious in intergender tag team matches against the teams of Sonoko Kato and Takuya Kito, and Mio Shirai and Takuya Kito, before suffering their first defeat at the hands of Akira and Syuri on 22 September. On 26 October, Angel entered the WNC Championship tournament, but was eliminated in his first round match by Akira. Afterwards, Angel announced that the match signaled the end of his first tour of WNC.