Within two years, he appeared at the ECWA Super 8 Tournament in April 2003 and began competing in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) several weeks later.

He later won his first and only OVW Heavyweight Championship after defeating Matt Morgan, before losing it a few months later to Chad Toland, the on-screen cousin of his tag partner Tank.

Pavone, however, was released from his contract due to behavior problems, leaving Mizanin to defend and ultimately lose the Tag Team Championship to The Throwbacks.

[3] On May 30, 2009, Barreta and Croft won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship from Tyler Reks in a handicap match when his partner Johnny Curtis failed to appear.

On November 19, Croft won his second FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, this time with Curt Hawkins, after they defeated The Rotundos (Bo and Duke).

[3] On January 14, 2010, at an FCW television taping, the Dude Busters lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to The Fortunate Sons (Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig).

[4] On the December 1, 2009 episode of ECW on SyFy, Croft and Barreta, no longer using the Dude Busters name, debuted as villains, defeating Tyler Hilton and Bobby Shields, two local competitors.

The Dude Busters then earned their first tag team victory since joining the SmackDown roster when they defeated the Gatecrashers on the August 26 episode of Superstars.