Mortis feuded with Glacier in an angle titled "Blood Runs Cold," because of the popularity of the Mortal Kombat video games and faced him at Uncensored on March 16, 1997, in his pay-per-view debut, which he lost.

After Blood Runs Cold unofficially ended, Vandenberg continued to manage the pair through the remainder of 1997 as Mortis and Wrath entered a feud with The Faces of Fear that culminated in a pinfall victory at Fall Brawl.

In early 1998, the group was split up after Wrath was sidelined with an injury and Mortis was moved into a new angle involving Raven and the Flock.

He appeared on camera standing alone in a dimly-lit space, discussing current feuds such as that between Saturn and Glacier, always finishing the segment with "And I could be wrong...but I doubt it."

On October 30, going by the name Father James Mitchell, he returned to TNA along with Slash and Brian Lee, collectively known as the Disciples of The New Church.

This monster was eventually revealed as his "son" Judas Mesias, who first appeared as a hand cutting a hole in the ring and pulling Abyss through it.

In June 2009, Mitchell was going to try out for WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling but was told that he needed to pay $1,000 to try out and that manager tryouts had already occurred in January 2009.

[6][11] Mitchell made his return to TNA, now Impact Wrestling, at Slammiversary XV where he was seen giving Joseph Park his Abyss mask.

Upon donning the mask, Park transformed into Abyss, allowing him and Jeremy Borash to defeat Josh Mathews and Scott Steiner.

After this, Mitchell would make sporadic appearances, aiding his storyline son, including summoning Abyss in March 2018 for a Monster's Ball match against Kongo Kong.

[14] During the September 2019 tapings, Mitchell was briefly seen taking the onscreen wedding of Brian Cage & Melissa Santos, held in a radically shortened format which included only the vows and exchanging of rings.

On February 3, 2021, Mitchell appeared on All Elite Wrestling's Beach Break to officiate the wedding of Penelope Ford and Kip Sabian.

A segment at Samhain in October 2023 that saw Mitchell doing cocaine drew controversy and reportedly caused tension between NWA and the CW Network.

[16] Mitchell admired comic book villains when he grew up;[4] For inspiration of his character, Mitchell attributes the curled-up eyebrows to The Punisher on The Amazing Spider-Man (issue 129); the curled-up beard was a combination of a stereotypical devil and the Green Arrow, and the laughter was from Cesar Romero's version of the Joker and the Green Goblin.

[4] Mitchell said the red suit he wore was inspired from the red suit Richard Pryor wore on his stand-up comedy performance in Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip Mitchell appears on Dark Side of the Ring episode for Chris Kanyon in 2021.