Kengo Mashimo
On July 29, Hino entered a special tournament, which was set to determine a new top stable in Kaientai Dojo. In the first round of the tournament, Hino and Ayumu Honda were defeated by Shiori Asahi and Yuki Sato. As the winners of the match, Asahi and Sato were given the right to recruit one of the losers as part of their stable, and chose Hino to join them. Later that same event, Hino, Asahi and Sato were defeated in the semifinals by Hiro Tonai, Kaji Tomato and Jonathan Bada. Once again, the winners chose Hino to join their stable. In the finals, Hino, Tonai, Tomato and Bada defeated Crazy Mary, Ryuichi Sekine, Saburo Inematsu and Yoshiya to win the tournament, forming the new stable named Uchuu Puroresu Kyoukai. On October 7, Hino received a shot at the Strongest-K Championship, but his match with Daisuke Sekimoto ended in a double knockout, after neither man was able to continue. On October 14, Hino defeated Taishi Takizawa to earn another shot at Daisuke Sekimoto and the Strongest-K Championship. On November 13, Hino defeated Sekimoto in a rematch to win the Strongest-K Championship for the third time. Hino made the first successful title defense of his third reign against Shiori Asahi on December 24. That same day, Hino earned his second Wrestler of the Year award. On January 26, 2013, Hino teamed with Saburo Inematsu to unsuccessfully challenge Kengo Mashimo and Ryuichi Sekine for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. On April 14, Hino lost the Strongest-K Championship to Taishi Takizawa in the main event of "evolution11". In September, Hino announced that he would undergo surgery on his right elbow following October 6, which would sideline him for the next few months. On October 6, Hino produced his own event, which celebrated his tenth anniversary in professional wrestling. During the event, Hino wrestled three times; first in the opening six-man tag team match, where he, Antonio Honda and Daisuke Sasaki were defeated by Hikaru Sato, Kengo Mashimo and Yukio Sakaguchi, and later in the scheduled main event, an Omega reunion match, where he, Makoto Oishi and Shiori Asahi defeated Hiroki, Ryota Chikuzen and Taka Michinoku. Following the main event, Hino also wrestled Quiet Storm to a five-minute time limit draw. Hino was expected to return for Kaientai Dojo's big New Year's Eve event, but on November 19, he announced that his surgery had not produced desired results, forcing him to remain sidelined.