It was during his "Hangman" Rick Harris phase, working for Bill Watts, that he debuted as a bounty hunter for Skandor Akbar in 1982.

After splitting with Bass in 1985, Harris feuded with Ron Garvin, Terry Taylor and Sam Houston over the NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship which he won and defended.

During this time Black Bart developed his second-rope leg drop to a prone opponent finishing move known as the "Texas Trash Compactor".

In early 1989 Harris went back to Florida and teamed with Bobby Jaggers and Tony Anthony while feuding with Dustin Rhodes and Mike Graham and The Nasty Boys.

Four weeks later Bart made his first appearance on television, when he was defeated by Tito Santana on Prime Time Wrestling on February 19.

He did, however, score victories over enhancement talent such as Jim Powers (a five match winning streak in July), Paul Diamond, Mark Young, Jim Evans, and Pez Whatley, and even managed to get a shot[citation needed] at the WWF World Tag Team Titles to wrestle then-champions Demolition alongside Bart's partner for the match, Mark Ming, in a losing effort.

On April 24, 1990, Bart was defeated by Dustin Rhodes at a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping in San Antonio, Texas.

On the July 21 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Bart teamed with Tom Stone to face The Legion of Doom in their first match with the company.

Teaming with Dan Spivey and Buddy Landell, the trio mounted an unsuccessful challenge to WCW Six-Man Tag-Team Champions Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton, and Tommy Rich.

Over the course of a few months, they were promoted through a series of vignettes by which they would be beaten up in saloons, searching ghost towns, and riding horses.

The Desperadoes entered the ring for the first time at house show in Charlotte, NC on May 12, 1991, where they (Bart and Dutch Mantell) were defeated by The Young Pistols.

Bart made his first WCW PPV appearance seven days later at SuperBrawl I, when he substituted for Larry Zybysko in a match against Big Josh.

Later that month Bart began teaming regularly with Deadeye Dick in house show matches against Ricky Morton and Dustin Rhodes.

The full Desperadoes trio entered the ring for the first time on July 3, 1991, in East Rutherford, NJ at the start of the 1991 The Great American Bash tour, where they were defeated by The Freebirds and Badstreet Brad Armstrong.

While the Desperadoes angle continued and the trio was shown as late as the June 29 WCW Power Hour program still looking for Stan Hansen, the former AWA champion reportedly wanted no part of the storyline and left for Japan, never to return to wrestle in North America.

Harris returned to WCW on November 26, 1995, when he participated in the 60 man, three ring battle royal at World War 3.