He won many competitions during his time in bodybuilding, but decided against competing on the national level and possibly turning pro.

Chavis went to the open try outs during the 1987 NFL player strike for the Miami Dolphins and made the cut, but he turned it down due to the lucrative money he was already making selling memberships at Bally's.

In 1989, Chavis met "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers in Florida at a video store while looking for wrestling tapes.

He received a second try-out on February 18, 1991, against the Brooklyn Brawler at a WWF Superstars taping in Orlando, Florida.

Tatanka was pushed as undefeated on WWF television; he did not suffer any defeat by pinfall or submission, but he lost several matches at house shows, the first being a countout loss to Rick Martel on June 4, 1992, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

[9] Throughout mid-1994, Tatanka engaged in a storyline feud with Irwin R. Schyster, who insisted he pay a gift tax on the item.

[9] According to Tatanka, that the original plan was to have Barry Windham return to the WWF and form the "New Money Inc." with (his brother in-law) Irwin R. Schyster and managed by DiBiase and have a long feud with Luger (Windham's long time rival from NWA and WCW) and Tatanka, however Windham suffered a knee injury from Ric Flair at Slamboree and the WWF couldn't reach a deal with him and Luger suggested that his next feud be with Tatanka instead and WWF agreed.

[9] Tatanka was suspended on August 30, reportedly as a preemptive measure for being named in a lawsuit to be filed by a woman stemming from an incident in Anaheim, California, following a WWF event in late 1994.

[11] Following this hiatus at the end of August 1995, Tatanka returned to the WWF to compete in the Royal Rumble event, where he was eliminated by Diesel.

He went from playing the role of a face to a heel when he turned on Falcon Coperis and Tommy Cairo to align himself with the likes of the UWF faction of the organization which included Neidhart, Hart, and eventually Jannetty.

He won the Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Championship on April 8, 1998, defeating Sid Vicious in a fictitious tournament final.

Chavis returned to a full-time schedule for WWE at the tail end of 2005, debuting at a December 27 house show, teaming with Shelton Benjamin in a win over Carlito and Jonathan Coachman.

He returned to television in the Royal Rumble match at the January 2006 event, where he was eliminated by Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro.

When he returned to wrestling Tatanka defeated Simon Dean with his new finisher, "Wakinyan" (from the Lakota word for "Thunder").

Tatanka engaged in a mini-feud with Sylvain Grenier, trading victories with him, before he was moved into an angle where he entered into a losing streak due to what he perceived to be bad decision-making by referees during his matches, especially Charles Robinson.

with a new style of warpaint, covering the top of his face in black and the bottom in white, and cut a promo on Lashley saying he owed neither him nor the crowd an explanation for his actions.

He asked for and was released from his WWE contract on January 19, 2007,[12] but not before ending his losing streak by defeating Jimmy Wang Yang, his first victory in months.

"[12] Tatanka stated on his official website that he requested to be released and mentioned he was not done with WWE as he would like to return someday.

Tatanka made an appearance in Danish Pro Wrestling (DPW) and lost to Chaos after he was hit by a DDT.

Tatanka appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the December 17, 2009, episode of Impact where he defeated Jay Lethal in a Black Machismo Invitational Match with an End of the Trail.

Tatanka also made headlines in Scotland while appearing for Scottish Wrestling Entertainment, renewing his partnership with the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase in Dundee.

[13] In their first round match on September 14, Team WWF was defeated by The Extreme Trio (Jerry Lynn, Tommy Dreamer and Too Cold Scorpio).

[14][16] Tatanka made another appearance in Danish Pro Wrestling (DPW) and defeated Chaos after hitting Wykea after a long and enduring match.

Tatanka made an appearance on the Old School Raw on November 15, 2010, backstage along with Ron Simmons, Dusty Rhodes, IRS, and The "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.

[17] On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32, Tatanka competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as a face and was among the last to be eliminated.