Tatsu made an appearance on the August 19 episode of SmackDown, where he competed in a 20-man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal to determine the No. 1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Tatsu was eliminated by the winner, Mark Henry. He returned to NXT on the September 6th episode and debuted a new dark look with a half face paint and a black ring attire. He stopped wearing the facepaint by October of 2011. He would go on to form an alliance with Trent Barreta and they feuded with Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. Tatsu competed on the January 27th edition of "Smackdown", teaming with Santino Marella in a losing effort to the WWE Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico. At the Royal Rumble, Tatsu defeated Heath Slater in the dark match.