On February 12 at The New Beginning, Goto defeated Masato Tanaka to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the first time. Goto made his first title defense on March 11, defeating Yujiro Takahashi. On April 1, Goto entered the 2012 New Japan Cup. After victories over Yujiro Takahashi, La Sombra and Togi Makabe, Goto defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi on April 8 in the finals to win the tournament for the third time and earn another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Goto unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On May 20, Goto made his second successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tomohiro Ishii. On July 22, Goto lost the title to Shinsuke Nakamura in his third defense. On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Goto received a rematch for the title, but was again defeated by Nakamura. On November 11 at Power Struggle, Goto unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome. From November 20 to December 1, Goto took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 World Tag League, alongside Karl Anderson under the team name "Sword & Guns". The team finished with a record of four wins and two losses, finishing second in their block and advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On December 2, Goto and Anderson defeated Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to advance to the finals of the tournament, where, later that same day, they defeated the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer), to win the tournament. Sword & Guns received their shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship on January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, but were defeated in a rematch by K.E.S.