partner, Hoyt teamed with Chris Candido to face Sonny Siaki and Apolo in a cage match at Lockdown. In the course of the match, Candido suffered a serious leg injury and was stretchered out, and Hoyt was pinned shortly thereafter. Following the match, Candido's cohorts, The Naturals, attacked Hoyt, thus turning him into a face character. Hoyt began developing a strong fan following, leading to his introducing a gimmick known as "Hoytamania", a reference to the "Hulkamania" surrounding Hulk Hogan. He feuded with Team Canada throughout mid-2005, and lost to Abyss at Sacrifice. He lost to Monty Brown at Bound for Glory and was involved in the 10-man Gauntlet match later in the night to determine the number one contender for Jeff Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In that match, Hoyt was eliminated by eventual winner Rhino. He later began teaming with Matt Bentley in mid-card tag matches until a misinterpreted steel chair incident led Bentley to believe Hoyt had "screwed" him, and he severely turned on him with a spontaneous brawl by ringside, consisting of several chairshots. Hoyt defeated Bentley at Destination X. He returned to TNA at No Surrender in the Triple Chance Tag Team battle royal as a partner to Ron "The Truth" Killings, but he was one of the first eliminated from the match. Hoyt made his Spike TV return, teaming with Killings to defeat Matt Bentley and Kazarian. Hoyt participated in the Fight for the Right Tournament, where he was one of the last two remaining men, making it to the third stage of the match. He lost to Abyss, who won a bye to the tournament finals for a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Even so, he wrestled Ron Killings in the quarterfinals of the tournament on the November 2 episode of Impact!, but was defeated. At Genesis, Hoyt and Killings defeated Austin Starr and Alex Shelley with Kevin Nash at ringside. The Rock 'n Rave Infection (2007–2009) After Killings was given a new program, Hoyt started teaming up with the Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM). His role with the team seemed to be that of a friend and bodyguard, watching their backs during their matches, and working the occasional six-man tag team match with them on Impact!. At Slammiversary, VKM defeated Basham and Damaja when Kip James pinned Basham, but Hoyt turned his back on VKM when Kip was about to attack