[2] In early 1986, he began wrestling with "Strangler" Steve DiSalvo as "The Angel of Death" in the Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling and faced mainstays such as Johnny Smith and feuded with Owen Hart eventually losing to him and Bruce Hart in a tag team match with Robbie Stewart in Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan on April 28, and to he and Ben Bassarab in Calgary, Alberta on June 20, 1986.

[4] Returning to Calgary to face Owen Hart in single matches in May 1987, their first matchup resulted in a double disqualification on May 21 although he was defeated in rematches on May 22 and May 24.

He also competed in Dallas-based independent promotions early in his career including World Class Championship Wrestling later losing to The Missing Link and Jason Sterling in a tag team match with Vince Apollo and later participated in a "triple dome Texas roundup" match at the last WCCW Parade of Champions supercard on May 8, 1988.

During the early 1990s, Sheldon continued wrestling in Texas independent promotions winning the TWF Tag team titles with Abdullah the Butcher in 1990, although they eventually lost the belts to Steve Austin and "The California Studd" Rod Price on November 11, 1990.

Later aligning himself with Kevin Sullivan and One Man Gang, the three attacked El Gigante following his match against Tony Mella before Ron Simmons ran in chasing the three out of the ring during a televised WCW event in Dothan, Alabama on May 11, 1991.

Sheldon's dearest friend from high school, Pat Mitchell, provided early and later wrestling career highlights to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a full-page obituary.