On the December 22 edition of ECW, Tatsu had a match against Jack Swagger who he defeated to earn a spot in the ECW Homecoming battle royal where the winner would challenge Christian for the ECW title at the Royal Rumble. He didn't win the battle royal however and was eliminated by Kane. Tatsu competed in his first Royal Rumble but lost when he was eliminated John Cena. Tatsu also formed a tag team with Goldust and they became the number one contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship but they lost in their championship match against The Miz and Big Show on which was the final episode of ECW on Syfy.