According to an ESPN interview, a young Janela became enthralled with the "high-risk, high-reward style of matches" presented in hardcore wrestling.

On March 17, 2012, World Xtreme Wrestling, a promotion ran by the Wild Samoans, booked him in a match against Brandon Scott, which Janela lost.

On August 12, 2017, at Progress Wrestling's New York City event, Janela would debut for the promotion losing to Jimmy Havoc in a No Disqualification match.

[7] At Progress Chapter 68, Janela would participate in the promotion's 2018 Super Strong Style 16 Tournament losing in the first round to Zack Gibson.

[10] While recovering from his injuries, in December, Janela joined the commentary team for Mike Busey’s Sausage Castle Wrestling alongside NFL player A. J. Francis.

[15] Janela made his Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) debut as a participant in the 2014 Dojo Wars Tournament of Valor.

At Sixteen: An Ultraviolent Anniversary, Janela defeated CZW main roster wrestler Sozio to qualify for the Best of the Best 14 tournament.

At Proving Grounds 2015, he wrestled in another Triple Threat match, this time facing Pepper Parks and Caleb Konley.

As CZW Wired TV Champion, Janela successfully defended the title against Joe Gacy and Lio Rush.

[18] At Eighteen, he defeated Stockade to retain the Wired TV Championship,[19] later successfully defending the title against Maxwell Jacob Friedman at The Wolf of Wrestling.

[31] He debuted for AEW at their inaugural pay-per-view event Double or Nothing on May 25, where he competed in the pre-show Casino Battle Royale, but the match was won by "Hangman" Adam Page.

[33] The following month at Fight for the Fallen, Janela teamed with Darby Allin and Jimmy Havoc in a losing effort to Shawn Spears, MJF, and Sammy Guevara.

In his debut on August 14, Janela defeated Akito in a fluorescent light tube ippon death match to win the DDT Extreme Championship.

On December 4 at D-Oh Grand Prix 2022, Janela lost the DDT Extreme Championship to Jun Akiyama in a tables, ladders, and chairs match.