[citation needed] Stokely Hathaway started on the indie circuit in 2016 after leaving Ring of Honor, working for companies such as Beyond Wrestling.

[6] After a brief stint managing Timothy Thatcher, Hathaway became a member of EVOLVE's leading stable Catch Point, remaining in a managerial role.

Hathaway managed Low Ki during the time before Major League Wrestling, secured their television deal with BeIN Sports in March 2018.

[15][16][17][18] On the June 22, 2021, episode of NXT, Bivens and Rust were revealed to be a part of the Diamond Mine stable along with Hachiman and Roderick Strong.

Hathaway and his clients then attacked the Casino Ladder match, taking out every competitor in the ring, clearing the way for the just-entering and masked Joker.

On the September 14 episode of AEW Dynamite, Hathaway revealed the name of his group to be "The Firm" and that they were MJF's "retainer team" helping him whenever he would need them.

The partnership was short-lived when, on the October 26 episode, MJF would fire Hathaway for disobeying his orders not to attack AEW World Championship Jon Moxley and the Firm would subsequently turn on him.

During this segment, a challenge was made for AEW Rampage for a match between Ethan Page and Isiah Kassidy to free Private Party from The Firm's control.

[25] Hardy and Kassidy would team with The Firm over several months, unsuccessfully challenging the likes of The Elite for the AEW World Trios Championship and JungleHOOK, the latter of which resulted in Hathaway having his first singles match in AEW against Hook in a No Disqualification match after Hardy failed to beat him for the FTW Championship, which Hathaway would lose.

[27] This would effectively disband The Firm, with the Gunns allying with Jay White and Juice Robinson of Bullet Club Gold and Hathaway being named to the Board of Directors of Ring of Honor alongside Jerry Lynn.

[28] After spending the summer of 2023 as one of ROH's authority figures, Hathaway returned to a managing position in early 2024, winning the grudging acceptance of Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale after a campaign to "Give Stokely a Chance" that featured Cameo messages from Kurt Angle[29] and George Santos.