The next six months Shane and Thunder (who was now known as Leon Murphy) used their television matches to learn what mistakes they were making and greatly improved as wrestlers and performers so by the time they appeared in their FWA debut at No Surprises 1 (July 1999), Shane and Murphy's victory over the overmatched team of Kevin O'Neil and Excalibur, received a standing ovation from the hardcore fans in the audience.

It wasn't until September 1999, that Alex really made his mark with the mainstream wrestling press when he appeared with tag team partner Leon Murphy to meet and defeat FWA newcomers The New Breed with an impressive array of double team innovations. But it wasn't Shane's wrestling that caught the attention of magazine Powerslam but his jaw-dropping promo at the expense of no-showing American wrestler Reckless Youth whom Alex verbally lambasted and dubbed 'Useless Wreck'.

It was becoming obvious that frictions were building between Shane and Thunder, both in and out of the ring, due to their obvious personality differences and Alex's desire to get into the singles rank.

Through his obvious flair for the dramatic Alex appeared on several television and radio shows, including a showstealing performance alongside The Dominator on the UK Jerry Springer shows.

Although still watching each other's backs the Shane and Thunder embarked on singles careers, and as Thunder slimmed down and went from raw power to speed and agility, Alex climbed from 16.5 to 21 stone and became a dominant force in the FWA.

This did not go unnoticed by promoters in the FWA who decided the time was right for Alex, who was at the time considered number one contender for the EWW title, to face Mark Sloan for the FWA British Heavyweight title in the infamous, "was it or wasn't it a shoot" interview segment that lead to a title match and a swift victory for Alex (FWA Black Country Chaos February 2000).

Alex excellently defended the title against challengers Guy Thunder (FWA Unknown Quantity 1) and Jody Flash (independent show) before setting up his own FWA regional promotion with friend and FWA promoter Cab Kennedy, Capital City Pro Wrestling.

CCPW's debut show was in March 2000 (FWA Urban Legends) and saw a reuniting of the Double Impact tag team as Shane and Thunder took on their tag team rivals The New Breed. The show would go down in history for an angle that was dubbed 'British angle of the year' on some wrestling web sites as four current Hammerlock wrestlers invaded the show to challenge Shane and Thunder, costing them the match against the Breed who would later win the tag team titles that evening.

Alex was approached by fledgling start up promotion UCW to join their roster. After weighing up the pros (big money) and cons (leaving FWA and CCPW), Alex decided to accept the UCW offer which included a complete character transformation.

Part 2 - Part 4