[4][5] Leavine was a two-sport athlete in high school, participating in scholastic wrestling and playing American football.
[6] At Springstead, Leavine was part of the wrestling team that won the Hernando County Athletic Conference trophy in December 2005, and that same season had a record of 33 wins and 4 losses, with 23 pins.
[8][9] Leavine then attended Florida International University (FIU) on a scholarship, where he continued to play football as an offensive lineman.
[8] In April of that year, he was invited to rookie minicamp on a tryout basis with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League.
[15][16] Leavine was not regarded as one of the front runners at the beginning of the show but ended strongly and made it to the final two with Luke Robinson.
On September 8, 2012, Leavine defeated Apolo and Gilbert in a three-way match to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship.
[23] He wrestled a Loser Leaves WWC Match against Wes Brisco to a no-contest after Ray González interfered and attacked both of them at the same time.
On April 27, 2013, Leavine and Samson Walker defeated Thunder & Lighting, winning the WWC Tag Team Championship.