His independent wrestling career was jumpstarted after he competed in the 2008 ECWA Super 8 Tournament, where he won the first round around against Loca Vida but lost in the semi-finals to Aden Chambers.

[5] Nese made his debut for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) on the July 7, 2011, episode of Impact Wrestling as part of the X Division Showcase tournament.

He was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Jack Evans in a three-way match that included Jesse Sorensen[6] On August 18, TNA announced that Nese had signed a contract with the promotion.

He made his return on the December 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, where he would compete in a Best of Three Series with Zema Ion to determine the third and final challenger for the X Division Championship at Genesis.

[10] Nese appeared on the March 22, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, competing in fatal-four-way match that included Austin Aries, Kid Kash, and Zema Ion which ended in a no contest.

[13] On September 14, 2014, at Evolve 35, Nese and Caleb Konley won the Open the United Gate Championship from The Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lancelot) in a three-way match, also involving A. R. Fox and Rich Swann.

[15] On June 11, 2016, at Evolve 63, Nese defeated Lince Dorado, Drew Gulak, Johnny Gargano and T. J. Perkins to qualify for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament.

Nese made his pay-per-view debut on the Hell in a Cell pre-show, teaming with Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari in a losing effort to Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado and Sin Cara.

[17] On the Survivor Series pre-show, Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari lost to T.J. Perkins, Rich Swann, and Noam Dar.

[18] In early 2017, Nese would later wrestle on 205 Live and Main Event, trading wins and losses over Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado and Mustafa Ali.

Nese began aligning with Enzo Amore's faction which consisting of Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak and Noam Dar, they dubbed themselves as "The Zo Train".

[24] On June 23 at the Stomping Grounds, Nese lost the title to Drew Gulak in a triple threat match which also involved Akira Tozawa, ending his reign at 77 days.

Following this, Nese would find himself feuding with members of the NXT roster who began appearing on 205 Live such as Oney Lorcan and Tyler Breeze which culminated in a 5-on-5 match pitting himself, Brian Kendrick, Jack Gallagher, Ariya Daivari and Mike Kanellis representing Team 205 against Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Tyler Breeze and Kushida representing Team NXT where they were defeated.

On the July 3 episode of 205 Live, Nese assisted Scott in defeating Ever-Rise in a tag team match and shook hands with him after.

[30] In late 2020, Nese aligned himself with Ariya Daivari and referred to themselves as the "205 Live OGs", and throughout the first half of 2021 would feud with newcomers such as August Grey, Curt Stallion, and Ikemen Jiro.

[31] On the October 23 episode of AEW Dynamite, Nese was shown seated in the crowd during the show with commentators hyping him as "one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling".

[34][35] In the summer of 2022, Nese formed a tag team with Josh Woods, and the duo would acquire the services of Mark Sterling as their manager and on-screen attorney.