After leaving the WWF in 1999, Rivera returned to Puerto Rico and joined Víctor Quiñones' promotion, the International Wrestling Association, where he was a long-time general manager and won five titles, including the IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship.

He made his Mid-South Wrestling debut on August 14, 1985, as Skandor Akbar's newest client, the masked villainous wrestler "El Corsario" by defeating Mark Ragin.

On the October 26 episode of Power Pro Wrestling, Corsario and Dutch Mantell unsuccessfully challenged Al Perez and Wendell Cooley for the Tag Team Championship.

He was accepted and sent back to Puerto Rico to wrestle for the Capitol Sports Promotions (CSP) as "TNT", adopting a Heel character based on his martial arts background and featuring several elements from stereotypical Hispanic gimmicks.

After the title loss, TNT participated in the La Copa Gillette tournament, in which he defeated Mr. Pogo in the first round, but fought Invader I to a time limit draw in the quarter-final.

On August 7, TNT competed in the main event of W*ING's first show, by teaming with Mr. Pogo and Steve Collins in a loss to Akitoshi Saito, Koichiro Kimura and Mitsuteru Tokuda.

Abdullah and TNT scored twelve points in the Real World Tag League, and their participation in the tournament ended with a loss to Hiroshi Wajima and Giant Baba on December 11.

After an appearance in the 1995 Royal Rumble, where he would eliminate Doink the Clown, Kwang gradually faded from WWF programming, losing his final match to Hakushi on the April 29, 1995, episode of Superstars.

On the July 31 episode of Raw, Vega and Ramon wrestled Owen Hart and Yokozuna for the WWF Tag Team Championship to a time limit draw, then lost a rematch for the titles the next week.

[9][10] On the April 13 episode of Superstars, Rivera, wearing a mask featuring the flag of Puerto Rico and billed as "The Caribbean Kid", defeated Austin by pinfall, then unmasked himself.

In the Royal Rumble's main event, Vega and Los Boricuas attacked the Undertaker alongside the New Age Outlaws to aid Shawn Michaels in defeating him in a casket match.

Vega headlined No Way Out of Texas: In Your House on February, when he replaced the injured Shawn Michaels in the eight-man tag main event, teaming with Triple H and the New Age Outlaws in a losing effort.

After winning the initial feud in a match at Golpe de Estado 2003, Fénix revealed his true identity, Ray González, and abandoned La Compañia.

[16] To close the year, Rivera was fired by José Chaparro, who went on to take over the general manager office acting on behalf of the IWA's CEO, Thomas Wreckler.

[19] However, this storyline was interrupted by the death of Rodríguez due to a heart attack, and he unsuccessfully attempted to regain control of the general manager by challenging González at Summer Attitude.

[22] On August 28, 2004, at Bad Blood, González announced that from that moment onwards, IWA would be known as "Capitol Sports Promotions", claiming that Quiñones had already received documentation confirming this.

[24] On October 9, 2004, González announced that "Capitol" had formed an alliance with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling-NWA for Golpe de Estado and that this move would bring in NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett, Robert Roode, Konnan and Shawn Hernandez.

Immediately after completing this announcement, Rivera proposed that they bet the stocks at Golpe de Estado with the winner taking full control of both halves of the promotion, which was accepted.

As a sidetrack, Rivera ran a mock campaign to become Governor of Puerto Rico for the fictional Partido Luchador Puertorriqueño (PLP) prior to the 2008 general elections.

At Summer Attitude 2010, Rivera defeated World Wrestling Entertainment employee Bryan Danielson, then IWA Puerto Rico Heavyweight Champion and first contender to the WWE United States Championship, by pinfall following his finishing move.

A rematch was scheduled for Histeria Boricua 2011, which was promoted with a throwback angle in which he emphasized how having defeated other undefeated wrestlers such as Austin and Johnson, claiming that his loss at Christmas in PR was nothing but a fluke.

Along with Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantell, he was responsible for training the Indian wrestlers at Ohio Valley Wrestling, TNA's developmental territory in Louisville, Kentucky.

None of the wrestlers were given a definitive heel or face role, but the local crowd supported his compatriot Jwala, who earned the pinfall by avoiding a maneuver by Rivera and applying his own finisher.

On July 7, 2013, Vega retained the BSP World Heavyweight Championship by defeating number one contender Dimes at its Summer Splash event held in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico.

On August 31, 2013, Vega lost to BSP World Heavyweight Champion Menace and Dimes in a three-way dance match celebrated in el sector La Jurado in Caguas, PR.

He reappeared on the final edition of WWC's Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre show before Aniversario 2011, interrupting the programming by stepping into the camera while wearing an IWA shirt.

At Halloween Mayhem 2011, Rivera returned to IWA for the first time since Histeria Boricua 2011, turning on a heel Pérez and seizing control by regaining the office of general manager and joining the still-undefeated Angel and Phillip Davian to form a stable known as "La Academia Gerencial".

The group stayed away from action for the remainder of the year due to him working the RKK project for TNA in OVW and India and he named an interim general manager who performed the role at Histeria Boricua 2012.

Prior to the WWC's Euphoria 2012 event, Rivera reappeared in Superestrellas de la Lucha Libre, supporting Ricky Banderas in his contest against Colón.

Vega and Carlito appeared at Backlash on May 6, 2023, to assist the Latino World Order's Bad Bunny in his San Juan street fight match against The Judgment Day's Damian Priest.