[3] After attending Blinn College in Bryan, Texas for two semesters, Mitchell joined the Beaumont Drillers of the National Indoor Football League in 2003.
[3] After a season with them, he attended a National Football League combine, but was told to go home after officials found out he had been expelled from college for fighting.
[6] He began wrestling under the name "Big Time" Nick Mitchell, and competed against wrestlers including Kid Kash and Johnny Parisi.
[4] Mitchell later suffered a knee injury, and although it was feared that he had torn his Anterior cruciate ligament, he was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he joined the Spirit Squad.
[4] As a result of his ACL injury, his ability to wrestle was curtailed and Mitch spent the first few months of his time in the Spirit Squad in a non-wrestling role.
The villainous McMahon brought in the Spirit Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple handicap matches.
[13][14] The match never started, however; instead The Spirit Squad attacked Michaels, ripping apart his ring attire and, as part of the storyline, shattering his knee with a steel chair.
[24][25][26] After two consecutive losses to the debuting Cryme Tyme, Kenny attacked Mikey on the October 23 episode of Raw and announced that he was going to defeat Flair.
[30] Later that night, in a backstage segment, DX placed all members into a crate stamped "OVW, Louisville, Kentucky", a reference to the developmental territory from which the Spirit Squad had come.
[3] He made his MMA debut on April 9, 2010, losing to future UFC star Derrick Lewis via second round technical knockout.
As a professional wrestler, Mitchell suffered numerous injuries, including damaging a disc in his neck and injuring his knee, as well as breaking his nose three times within one month.