Weight

Feeling a sense of obligation to the 'kid', Nick agreed to take Nighthawk into the Proving Ground, Cyprus' infamous training facility in Chicago that only a handful had ever made it through. Using sometimes inhumane training techniques that bordered on torture, Cyprus taught Nighthawk the toughness needed to make it in the business and in the process the two formed a deep friendship. After 'graduating' from the Proving Ground a new man, Cyprus sent Hawk to a wrestling school in New Jersey where he could further refine his skills. Making his pro wrestling debut at the age of 20 in 1994, Hawk worked the independents in Jersey for a few months before getting a call from friend Nick Cyprus. Cyprus had signed to a new promotion called Gladiator Wrestling Independent in Chicago and they were in need of more guys.

As soon as word got out that the legendary Cyprus had signed with the promotion, the roster quickly filled up but not before Nighthawk had signed the line with the GWI. His talent undeniable, Hawk won an eight man single elimination tournament that May in the GWI's first event to claim the World Heavyweight Championship. He would go on to hold the title four additional times in the next five years, becoming an undeniable headliner in the GWI (now renamed Gladiator Wrestling International.) He would team with Nick Cyprus to form Vengeance Incorporated and win the tag titles three times before finally leaving the GWI and moving to the NAWA in late January of 2000. Tag gold would quickly follow when Hawk and Johnny Deathrow formed the team Armageddon and won the belts in quick fashion. It would leave just as quickly when Deathrow turned on his partner to join the hated stabke the Havoc. His plot was destroyed by the arrival of Nick Cyprus, who had also joined the NAWA. Cyprus crippled Deathrow, ending his career, and then reformed Vengeance Inc. with Nighthawk. They would win the NAWA Tag Team Titles from X-Factor a few months later, and then have the belts stripped in controversial fashion after a dominant run as champions. 

Tragedy would strike shortly afterwards, where an in-ring accident left Nighthawk in a coma with severe head trauma. Retiring at the request of his loved ones, Nighthawk turned his attentions to managing after he rehabbed his injuries. Discovering the talented rookie Hank Simms, Nighthawk trained him to become 'The Legacy' Lennox Mullroix and the duo enjoyed immediate success with Mullroix improving by the day under Hawk's training. His ego would get the better of him however, as he ended up turning on Nighthawk with a vicious headshot that was believed to have put Nighthawk out for good. It was not to be as Nighthawk returned a month later, brutally assualting his former student and announcing to the world that he was returning to the ring. In February of 2001, Nighthawk made his comeback, making Mullroix submit to the Prey Catcher in a Career vs. Career, I Quit Match for Mullroix's North American Championship. Shortly thereafter, financial scandal caused the NAWA to close.

After a cup of coffee in the PWD, where Nighthawk went undefeated beat the PWD Hardcore Champion Bone Collector in his last match with the company, the Reign of Pain found a new home in the opening World Wrestling Alliance, where he immediately established himself as one of the headliners. After a successful run in the singles division and a continuing feud with the Regulators, he and Nick Cyprus re-formed Vengeance Incorporated to take on the stable. WWA committee member (and original Regulator) Bobby Starr conspired to have the two suspended and sent to separate WWA affiliate leagues before Vengeance Inc could threaten for the Los Vaqueros (Regulators Troy Dallas and Luke Starr) World Tag Team Championship. Nighthawk ended up in the Boston-based ECWC where he once again won tag gold with Chris Stratford. The two would have a falling out shortly thereafter that resulted in them relinquishing the straps without ever being beaten for them. (They would also later have several violent encounters in the WWA without a conclusive outcome.) Upon Nighthawk’s return to the WWA, he and Cyprus did reform Vengeance Inc. and were the favorites to win an upcoming number-one contenders match for the tag titles when the WWA suddenly closed its doors. For the second time in recent memory, Nighthawk was unemployed.

That would change shortly thereafter when his services were courted by the National Wrestling Council. Against his better judgement, Nighthawk signed with the company and immediately had political difficulties backstage. However, in the ring he was still getting the job done, going undefeated until his farewell match with the company. The saving grace of his NWC run was a dominant pairing with Adam-X. The two former friends and rivals joined forces to form The FURY and the the two ‘surviving members’ of X-Factor and Vengeance Inc. tore right through the tag division of the NWC’s TSW promotion, winning the tag titles in their very first match as a team and then becoming undisputed champions a few weeks later by defeating Team BillaBONG, who also laid claim to a version of the championship. A rivalry formed with a group who referred to themselves as the ‘dWo’ and The FURY responded in a surprising fashion, forming an unholy alliance with Shawn Andrews and Ripper Longshanks to form the Unstable. (Rumors that Rex Raddington had something to do with the unlikely union were never confirmed.) Despite tensions within the group, The Unstable ran roughshot over the dWo with Nighthawk nearly breaking the neck of dWo monster Karnage in a parking lot brawl in retribution for an earlier attack.

After numerous battles with other wrestlers backstage and the home office, The FURY finally turned in their notice and dropped the tag titles in their last match, leaving the company as more than just partners, but brothers. After his exit from the TSW, Nighthawk enjoyed some time off and took care of some personal matters and it was assumed that he may simply retire. That rumor was put to rest when a series of mysterious messages and packages started making their way onto MSWA television. Upon the confirmation that is was indeed the Nighthawk behind the mystery, it became clear that the Reign of Pain has indeed set his sights on the roster of the MSWA and his agenda becamse clear at Myths and Legends when he savagely attacked Mace after the Bronx Buster had a grueling match against Luke Starr. After the beatdown that left a stunned Mace unconscious and a shocked crowd staring on in disbelief, Nighthawk declared war on Mace, daring him to step up to the challenge. Step up Mace did, and the following months gave wrestling fans one of the most intense rivalries in wrestling history in what became known as the Blood Feud. Trading the MSWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship back and forth on several occasions, Nighthawk was ablt to defeat Mace in both a Last Man Standing match and a Cage match, but Mace also had the distinction of being the only man to ever defeat Nighthawk in his specialty of the I Quit match. The Blood Feud finale was a vicious 60 Minute Ironman that will go down as perhaps the greatest of all time as Nighthawk pulled out a quick lead that was melted away by Mace in the final two minutes when he knocked Nighthawk unconscious and got several pinfalls consecutively. They were tied in the final seconds and Mace was ablt to keep the Nighthawk’s shoulders down for three right as the bell sounded and as Nighthawk’s shoulder shot off the canvas. Mace had won the right to be the last ever MSWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion.
Tragedy would strike on the homefront shortly thereafter when Nighthawk’s wife Annie Cole was viciously assaulted by young Jason James Richter, a disturbed young man who had been stalking the couple for some time. Nighthawk returned home in time to stop the attack and in the process he sadistically beat and tortured Richter to death. After it was announced that no charges would be filed against him in a controversial and dubious decision by the New York DA’s office, the special interest group Action Against Excessive Force filed lawsuits against both Nighthawk and the CSWA, who had bought out the remnants of the MSWA when they went under. After a suspension that lasted several weeks, Nighthawk was finally allowed to return to the ring against Axis member Jonathan Laslow. In a shocking upset, Laslow dominated Nighthawk, who seemed to be unable to get any offense in. The following week, he received a similar beating from Axis member Loki, but squeeked out a victory with a sudden inside cradle. Having lost his capacity for violence after the Richter self-defense murder, Nighthawk was set to retire when he once again was the victim of a cruel assault by Axis members Laslow and Mr. Dude. Annie made a surprise appearance to the ring, begging her husband to fight back and as the Axis taunted her, Nighthawk snapped, laying out both Dude and Laslow with the Sonic Boom and the Prey Catcher before making a challenge to the Axis leader Loki in one of the most dramatic displays in the short CSWA history. With Annie now by his side as his manager and Nighthawk finally getting over the death of Richter, the Reign of Pain is set to wreak havoc across the entire CSWA as only the Nighthawk can.