On January 6, 2005, Taguchi announced that he would be going on a learning excursion to Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), a common practice for young Japanese juniors, wrestling simply as "Taguchi". He competed in two farewell matches in New Japan, losing to Wataru Inoue in the first and teaming with Taiji Ishimori to defeat Tiger Mask and El Samurai in the second. Taguchi made his CMLL debut on February 11, 2005 in the Arena México, teaming with Black Tiger and Shigeo Okumura to defeat Negro Casas, Felino and Safari. Taguchi also wrestled in Último Dragón's Toryumon Mexico, teaming with Hiromi Horiguchi to win the 4-team Yamaha Cup tournament on February 27, 2005. Taguchi continued to compete in CMLL throughout much of 2005, often teaming with fellow New Japan alumni Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi. He returned to Japan on October 7, 2005 and wrestled his official return match on October 22, 2005, teaming with Masahito Kakihara to defeat Sangre Azteca and Hirooki Goto.