Japanese promotions usually refer to the team only by the initials, while North American promotions use the full name, while sometimes also referring to Archer and Smith by thering names Lance Hoyt and Harry Smith, respectively.[4]
On October 8 atKing of Pro-Wrestling, Archer and Smith, now known collectively as K.E.S. (Killer Elite Squad),[8] defeated Tencozy to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, bringing Suzuki-gun its first title.[9][10] They made their first successful title defense on November 11 atPower Struggle, defeating Tencozy in a rematch.[11] From November 20 to December 1, K.E.S. took part in theround-robin portion of the2012 World Tag League, finishing with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament in the second place in their block.[12][13] On December 2, K.E.S. defeated Always Hypers (Togi Makabe andWataru Inoue) to advance to the finals of the tournament, where, later that same day, they were defeated by Sword & Guns (Hirooki Goto andKarl Anderson).[14] This led to a rematch on January 4, 2013, atWrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, where K.E.S. successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Sword & Guns.[15][16]
Back in NJPW, Suzuki-gun, K.E.S. included, entered astoryline rivalry with theChaos stable.[17][18] On February 10 atThe New Beginning, K.E.S. retained the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Tencozy,[19] after which Archer challenged Chaos'Shinsuke Nakamura to a match for hisIWGP Intercontinental Championship.[20] Archer went on to fail in his title challenge on March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event.[21] The rivalry between Suzuki-gun and Chaos continued during the2013 New Japan Cup with Archer being eliminated in the first round byKazuchika Okada, while Smith eliminated Nakamura in his first round match.[22] After defeating another Chaos member,Yujiro Takahashi, in the second round,[23] Smith was eventually eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Hirooki Goto.[24][25] On April 5, K.E.S. made their fourth successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Chaos representatives Shinsuke Nakamura andTomohiro Ishii.[26][27][28] Two days later atInvasion Attack, Smith unsuccessfully challenged Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in a rematch of their New Japan Cup bout.[29][30][31]
Through NJPW's relationship with theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Archer and Smith took part in an NWA event inHouston, Texas on April 20, where they defeated the Kingz of the Underground (Ryan Genesis and Scot Summers) to not only retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but to also win theNWA World Tag Team Championship.[32][33][34] On May 3 atWrestling Dontaku 2013, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Tencozy in a four-way match, which also included the Chaos team ofTakashi Iizuka andToru Yano, and Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi andStrong Man), ending their reign at 207 days.[35][36] On August 11, Archer and Smith faced off during the final day of the2013 G1 Climax. Smith entered the match with a chance to advance from the block, but was in the end eliminated after being defeated by Archer.[37][38][39]
On November 9 atPower Struggle, K.E.S. faced Tencozy andThe IronGodz (Jax Dane andRob Conway) in a two-fall three-way match, contested for both the IWGP Tag Team Championship and the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In the first fall, they lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship to The IronGodz, but came back in the second to defeat Tencozy to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the second time.[40][41][42][43] On November 24, K.E.S. entered the2013 World Tag League,[44] where they won their block with a record of five wins and one loss.[45] On December 8, K.E.S. was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by their old rival team, Tencozy.[46][47][48] On January 4, 2014, atWrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to the winners of the tournament,Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson).[49][50][51] K.E.S. received a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Championship on February 9 atThe New Beginning in Hiroshima, but were again defeated by Bullet Club.[52][53][54]
On May 25 atBack to the Yokohama Arena, K.E.S. failed in their attempt to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Tencozy in a three-way match, which also included Rob Conway andWes Brisco.[55][56] On June 21 atDominion 6.21, K.E.S. received another shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship, this time in a regular tag team match, but were again defeated by Tencozy.[57][58] Yet another match between the two teams took place on October 13 atKing of Pro-Wrestling, where K.E.S. finally defeated Tencozy to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship for the second time.[59][60] From November 22 to December 5, K.E.S. took part in the2014 World Tag League.[61] Finishing their block with a record of four wins and three losses, the two failed to advance to the finals due to losing toKazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano on the final day.[62]
On August 21, 2015, K.E.S. made their debut forGlobal Force Wrestling (GFW), where they took part in a tournament to crown the inauguralGFW Tag Team Champions, losing to Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) in the quarterfinals.[67] On October 10, 2015, at an NWA Mid South event, K.E.S. lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship to the Heatseekers (Elliott Russell and Sigmon) in a three-way match, also involving the Illuminati (Chase Owens and Chris Richards).[68]
On January 10, 2015, K.E.S., along with the rest of Suzuki-gun, took part in a major storyline, where the stable invaded aPro Wrestling Noah show. During the attack, K.E.S. beat downGHC Tag Team ChampionsTMDK (Mikey Nicholls andShane Haste).[69][70] This led to a match on February 11, where K.E.S. defeated TMDK with help from Suzuki-gun stablemateEl Desperado to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions – and when added with their NWA World Tag Team title, making them double champions.[71][72][73] A rematch between the two teams took place on March 15, which saw K.E.S. make their first successful defense of the GHC title.[74][75] From April 19 through May 4, K.E.S. took part in the2015 Global Tag League,[76] where they made it to the finals where they were defeated byMasato Tanaka andTakashi Sugiura.[77][78] K.E.S. held the GHC Tag Team Championship for the rest of 2015 and into 2016, setting a new record for most successful defenses.[79] From April 21 to May 4, K.E.S. took part in the2016 Global Tag League,[80] again making it to the finals, where they were defeated byNaomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano.[81] On May 28, K.E.S. lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Marufuji and Yano in their 11th defense.[79][82] Their 15-month title reign was the second longest in Noah history.[83] K.E.S. regained the GHC Tag Team Championship from Marufuji and Yano on November 23.[84][85] They lost the title toGo Shiozaki andMaybach Taniguchi on December 3.[86] Two days later, it was announced that Suzuki-gun was gone from Noah, concluding the invasion storyline.[87]
On January 5, 2017, K.E.S., along with the rest of Suzuki-gun, returned to NJPW, attacking the Chaos stable with Archer and Smith targeting IWGP Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.[88][89] On February 5 atThe New Beginning in Sapporo, K.E.S. unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Togi Makabe andTomoaki Honma.[90] Following the event, Archer was sidelined with a herniated disc in his lower back, which would require surgery and sideline him for a significant amount of time. Prior to the injury, K.E.S. were primed for a run as NJPW's top foreign tag team.[91] Archer returned from his injury on August 13, when he and Smith attacked IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine andGuerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga andTanga Loa).[92][93] On the following tour, K.E.S., War Machine and Guerrillas of Destiny were booked in three three-way matches for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[94] The first two matches on September 10 atDestruction in Fukushima and September 16 atDestruction in Hiroshima were won by War Machine.[95][96][97] The third match, contested undertornado tag team match rules, on September 24 atDestruction in Kobe was won by K.E.S., who became the new IWGP Tag Team Champions, winning the title for the first time in three years and eight months.[98][99] At the end of the year, K.E.S. took part in the2017 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of five wins and two losses, failing to advance to the finals due to losing to block winners Guerrillas of Destiny in their head-to-head match.[100][101] On January 4, 2018, atWrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, K.E.S. lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to the winners of the World Tag League,Los Ingobernables de Japón (Evil andSanada).[102] On June 15, 2019, it was reported that Smith would no longer be wrestling for NJPW.[103]
