Independent circuit (2004-2007)
Soon after his WWE release, Johnny then went on to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of Voodoo Murders AJPW's main heel group in 2004. During his time as a part of the Voodoo Murders, Hugger was reunited with former F.B.I. teammate Chuck Palumbo. In 2005, Hugger and Palumbo joined the Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion in Italy, reforming the F.B.I. gimmick to make themselves the top babyfaces in the promotion. Hugger also worked a brief tour in Mexico while under the name Stamboli and also teamed with Mark Jindrak, who goes by Marco Corleone (an Italian gimmick) in Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotion. However, Hugger found perhaps his greatest success on the indy circuit in late 2006 when he began working for Impact Zone Wrestling in Arizona. He created a demonic character named REDRUM ("MURDER" spelled backwards, which is a reference to The Shining), who often (kayfabe) possesses the souls of his opponents after defeating them and sometimes has his body covered in a red liquid which is supposed to depict blood. Hugger added a mask similar in appearance to the Great Muta's, shaved his head and grew a goatee to complete the look. Hugger said he got the idea for the REDRUM gimmick when he impersonated Muta over in Japan. According to Hugger during an interview with the Wrestling Observer, he liked the whole dark, blood spitting personality and decided to reinvent his wrestling career. Although he was somewhat sad to let the Johnny Stamboli days go, he felt it was time to move on. [1]
[edit] Return to WWE (2007)
Hugger returned to WWE on July 31, 2007 in a dark match on SmackDown!, defeating Chavo Guerrero. Hugger wrestled using his REDRUM gimmick, but he wasn't billed under that name. Instead, he was billed as the Unknown Wrestler. Hugger worked as a babyface in that match and was very impressive. WWE wanted to bring him back for an extended tryout period and came very close to sealing a deal with Hugger, but unfortunately, his name turned up in the 2007 steroid scandal. As a result, WWE decided to stay away from him. He wrestled another tryout match against Val Venis as REDRUM (his gimmick from IZW) on September 22, 2007 at a RAW house show. Ultimately, however, WWE was not willing to risk resigning him, which led to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's acquisition of Hugger.
[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007-Current)
At the TNA pay-per-view Genesis 2007 on November 11, Hugger made his debut by aligning himself with Black Reign and Father James Mitchell against Abyss.
During the "Shop of Horrors" match between Reign and Abyss, Hugger stood in a locked box with the words "Crimson Blood" written on it at the top of the entrance ramp, then attacked Abyss after his win over Reign. Hugger appeared dressed in his REDRUM gimmick. He debuted on the following edition of TNA Impact as a heel under the name Rellik ("killer" spelled backwards). Rellik did not win a match in TNA until the December 20 tapings where he won the four-way Silent Night Bloody Night Match against Abyss, Black Reign and Shark Boy.
On January 3, Rellik participated in a TNA Heavyweight Gauntlet Match (won by Christian Cage).
