and the Championship. On April 24, 2009, it was announced on TNAWrestling.com that Lethal had signed a new multi-year deal with the company. On the November 5, 2009, episode of Impact! Jay Lethal announced an open invitational challenge. Due to the announcement of Hulk Hogan joining TNA, Lethal challenged wrestling legends to take him on. The following week, Jim Neidhart answered the challenge and defeated Lethal. The series continued on the December 17 episode of Impact!, when Tatanka answered the challenge and defeated Lethal in a singles match. After months of inactivity, Lethal's alliance with Consequences Creed came officially to an end on March 29, 2010, when Creed was released from his contract. Feud with Ric Flair and Fortune (2010–2011) After spending most of early 2010 off TV, Lethal returned on the March 29 episode of Impact! by approaching Hulk Hogan, reminiscing about their days as "The Mega Powers" (Hogan's old team with Randy Savage). Playing along with Lethal's antics, Hogan placed him in charge of the show for his one-week absence due to a business trip. After raising the ire of Hogan's business partner Eric Bischoff with his comedic booking ideas, Bischoff placed Lethal in a two-on-one handicap match against Beer Money, Inc.; Lethal, however, managed to win the match after surprising Robert Roode with a roll-up. On the May 3 episode of Impact!, Hogan gave Lethal Ric Flair's Hall of Fame ring that Abyss had won from him the previous week. When Lethal, now imitating Flair, was confronted by Flair himself, he claimed that he meant no disrespect and out of respect towards Flair, returned the ring to him. This, however, wasn't enough for Flair, who attacked Lethal along with A.J. Styles, Desmond Wolfe and Beer Money, Inc., before he was saved by Abyss, Team 3D and the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam. At Sacrifice, Lethal came out during the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Rob Van Dam and challenger A.J. Styles, and locked Ric Flair in a Figure-four leglock in order to prevent him from interfering in the match. On the May 20 episode of Impact!, Lethal competed in his first match after dropping the Black Machismo gimmick, and teamed up with Rob Van Dam to defeat Beer Money, Inc. in a tag team match. After the match, Lethal brawled with Flair. At Slammiversary VIII, Lethal defeated Flair's protégé A.J. Styles in a