NWA New England (1998–2000) After making his official debut on May 26, 1995, James McCarthy spent over two years on the
independent circuit before entering
NWA New England as Dukes Dalton. He immediately aligned himself with
The Brotherhood, a newly formed "
heel"
stable under manager
Tony Rumble, which then included
Eric Sbraccia,
Knuckles Nelson and
Rick Fuller. In 1998, Sbraccia and Nelson won the
NWA World Tag Team Championship at the
NWA 50th Anniversary Show. When Sbraccia suffered an injury early into their title reign, McCarthy and Fuller filled for Sbraccia by helping Nelson defend the tag team titles both in NWA New England and occasionally in other NWA territories. When a snowstorm forced Sbraccia and Nelson to cancel a scheduled title defense in
North Richland Hills, Texas, on March 3, the titles were held up. Several days following this, McCarthy teamed with Knuckles Nelson to defeat
Jason Rage &
Slyk Wagner Brown at a house show in
Southbridge, Massachusetts. Dalton would also gain an impressive singles victory over
Trooper Gilmore, a one-time NWA New England Heavyweight Champion, at the Good Times Emporium in Somerville, Massachusetts on May 29. The NWA World titles were returned to The Brotherhood on June 10 after a rematch in
Dallas, Texas, but a week later Nelson and Rick Fuller lost the belts to
The Public Enemy (
Rocco Rock &
Johnny Grunge) in
Bolton, Massachusetts. On June 19, McCarthy and Nelson took back the titles in
Dorchester. On July 12, they fought to a no-contest against Mike Hollow &
"Mr. USA" Tony Atlas in
Swansea, Massachusetts. He and Nelson also defeated The Arc Angels (Damon D'Arcangelo & Phoenix King) to win the NWA New England Tag Team titles in Somerville on August 22. would defend these titles, as well as the NWA World Tag Team titles, for another month. McCarthy and Nelson eventually lost the NWA World Tag Team titles to the New York Posse (Curtis Slamdawg & Jay Kobain) at the Good Time Emporium on September 22. On September 25, he and Nelson lost the NWA World Tag Team titles to Team Extreme (Kit Carson & Khris Germany) at the
NWA 51st Anniversary Show at the
Grady Cole Center in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Team Extreme had won a six-team tournament to earn a title shot at the world champions. He and Dalton would regain the belts a final time, beating the New York Posse in
Thomaston, Connecticut, on October 2, and would continue to hold the belts until the stable split up early the next year. At the end of the month, McCarthy also made his first
WWF appearance on
WWF Jakked/Metal with Nelson against
The Headbangers (
Mosh &
Thrasher). McCarthy made a second WWF appearance when he and Nelson once again took on, and lost to, The Headbangers on the December 11th edition of
WWF Jakked.
Chaotic Wrestling (2001–2003) Following the breakup of The Brotherhood, McCarthy left NWA New England in early 2000 and spent the next year in various independent promotions. On April 14, he made his third appearance on
WWF Jakked wrestling
Haku in the opening match. before joining
Chaotic Wrestling in the summer of 2001. In one of his first matches, he teamed with
Slyk Wagner Brown against "Babyface" Vince Vicallo &
R. J. Brewer in
Methuen, Massachusetts, on June 23. This match was later aired on the promotion's weekly television show
Friday Night Chaos. Later that year, he wrestled
The Boston Brawler in
Lawrence, Massachusetts, on September 7. Both men were accompanied by valets Brittany Summer and The Boston Babe respectively. On December 14, 2001, McCarthy beat "Intellectual" Arch Kincaid in Lawrence for the
Chaotic Wrestling Light Heavyweight Championship. Less than two months later, he would defeat John Walters in
Lowell, Massachusetts, to unify Chaotic Wrestling Light Heavyweight and
Television Championship titles. Both titles would be retired when McCarthy won the
Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship from "Latin Fury" Luis Ortiz in
Revere, Massachusetts, on May 18, 2001. He lost the title back to Ortiz in Lawrence a week later. Teaming with former rival Arch Kincaid, he made a failed effort to win the
Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship from Attrition (Studd and Angers) in
Methuen, Massachusetts, on March 7. McCarthy started teaming with Tim McNeany as The Local Legends and, that June, were the sole survivors in an 8-man
Survivor Series-rules tag team match held in
Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He also briefly competed for Crimson Mask Wrestling, a short-lived wrestling promotion based in
Waterbury, Connecticut, established by NWA New England wrestlers Jaime Pain and Nemesis.
Chaotic Training Center and semi-retirement (2004–) Soon afterwards, McCarthy limited his in-ring schedule so he could spend more time as an instructor at the Chaotic Training Center in
North Andover, Massachusetts, with Mike Hollow. During the next few years, he and Hollow would help train a number high-profile wrestlers including Chase Del Monte,
Chris Harvard,
Chad Dick and brothers Bryan & Matt Logan. On March 18, 2005, he and "Big Man on Campus" Craig Stratton wrestled the Logan Brothers losing to them at a house show at the Polish-American Veterans Club in Lowell. On February 8, 2008, McCarthy and Arch Kincaid were inducted in a formal ceremony to the Chaotic Wrestling Hall of Fame. The ceremony was interrupted by
Max Bauer whose tirade against the two veterans resulted in a brawl. On October 26, 2008, Dalton appeared at a
wrestling memorial event dedicated to Killer Kowalski who had died the previous month. He was one of a number of Kowalski's former students who were in attendance and included Mike Hollow, Tony Roy, John Rodeo, Freightrain Dan, Zachary Springate, Vito "Scorch" Carlucci, Richard Byrn,
Terry Allen,
Frankie Kazarian and
Johnny Fabulous.
J. J. Dillon,
Ox Baker,
Doink the Clown,
Justin Credible and
Spike Dudley also appeared at the show. All proceeds from the event went to the Killer Kowalski Fund set up at the
Citizens Bank in
Malden, Massachusetts, which would help pay Kowalski's medical bills. ==Championships and accomplishments==