Independent circuit (1999-present) Trosky became interested in professional wrestling at an early age when he and his brother were taken to see a
World Wrestling Federation show at the local Catholic Youth Center in
Scranton. Learning amateur wrestling in elementary school, he eventually had a successful career in high school winning district championships in
folk style and placements in state tournaments for
Greco-Roman freestyle wrestling. He also took second place at the Keystone State Games. Trosky was offered
athletic scholarships to
Wilkes University and
King's College among others. After deciding to attend Wilkes, his scholarship was withdrawn a week before the semester as he had been competing professionally in violation of
NCAA regulations. He eventually attended
Bloomsburg University graduating with a
degree in
mass communications in 2003 and later received a
master's degree in
interactive instructional technology. He and a friend, Garrett Orban, began competing in "
backyard wrestling" as teenagers with Trosky using the name "The Comet Warrior". Trosky, along with Orban and Brian Dorshefski, also set up rings for
Extreme Championship Wrestling and other local promotions, in part to Orban's friendship with local wrestling promoter Dan Kowal. Kowal, founder of
GLOW, Women's Extreme Wrestling and The Wrestling Zone, later expressed interest in booking him and his friends after seeing one of their tapes in November 1998. They were originally supposed to appear in Kowal's WWWA promotion in February 1999, however several show cancellations pushed back his debut for several months. On May 22, 1999, Trosky had his first professional wrestling match against Garrett Dominance (Garrett Orban) in
Malvern, Pennsylvania. A few months later, he and another friend, Brian Dorshefski, traveled to
Tennessee and
Kentucky where he began his initial training with Mike Promo where he learned ring psychology and southern style wrestling. After two weeks, he returned to Pennsylvania and eventually started training at the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania. As well as
Afa and
Sal Bellomo, other wrestlers involved in his training included
Samula Anoa'i and former graduates Jake Molsonn and Tommy Suede. Trosky also entered the 2002 J-Cup Tournament losing to
American Dragon in the opening rounds in
Lodi, New Jersey on June 15, 2002. On February 2, 2008, Trosky challenged Judas Young for the NWA Pro Television Championship at the
Knights of Columbus in
Lodi, New Jersey. Awarded the Xero World Championship, he defended the title against
Julio Dinero at
Frontline: Countdown to Xtinction at the Abderdeen Proving Grounds in
Aberdeen, Maryland on February 23. In December, he defended the WAW American title in a champion vs. champion match against WAW Heavyweight Champion Genesis at NWA WAW's
Full Force at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground. WAW Cruiserweight Champion The Dynamic Sensation, the
kayfabe younger brother of Trosky, was banned from ringside by officials as one of the stipulations for the match.
World Xtreme Wrestling During this time, he made his debut for Afa Anoa'i's
World Xtreme Wrestling promotion twice winning the WXW Cruiserweight Championship as well as the WXW Tag Team titles with Tommy Suede. In February 2001, Trosky was made head trainer of the school under Anoa'i himself. While in the promotion, he also appeared on its
Yokozuna Memorial Show which starred wrestlers from ECW and the WWF as well as its first international tour appearing at
US Army military bases in
Japan,
Korea,
Guam,
Okinawa and
Hawaii.
WWE Tough Enough Trosky also tried out for the first season of
Tough Enough and was one of the 200 selected but failed to make the final cut. Trosky has since criticized
MTV's creative control to resemble a
reality television styled show similar to
Real World or
Road Rules rather than a more realistic training program. Through
Rikishi, he later trained with
Bill DeMott and
Dean Malenko prior to a television taping of
WWE SmackDown. Trosky appeared in other promotions during the next several years including the
Heartland Wrestling Association, International Wrestling Cartel,
Jersey All Pro Wrestling, the
National Wrestling Alliance and Pro Wrestling Unplugged. In late 2004, Trosky taught a semester at
Lackawanna College as a
photoshop instructor. From 2005 to 2006, he worked as an
information technology consultant for Nu-Wrestling Evolution and was also an instructor in mass communications at
Northampton Community College the following spring. Trosky toured Italy with Rikishi and other professional wrestlers working with NWE during 2005. Trosky returned to Italy for one more tour that year and then added a tour to Australia in December 2007 with Rikishi,
Gangrel and others for several performances in Perth. ==Stunt work and teaching==