for the second time on November 3 by defeating Earl the Pearl and Rich Myers, and later won the Virginia Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 1, 2001. Independent circuit (2001–2004) In 2002, Matthews and York competed in Ring of Honor (ROH), and teamed together on several occasions, before Matthews joined a faction called Special K, of which he was a member until 2004. He also worked for various independent organizations such as Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) and Phoenix Championship Wrestling. On January 29, 2003, Matthews defeated Romeo Valentino to win the MCW Rage Television Championship, but lost it four months later to Doug Delicious on May 15. On the April 14, 2003, episode of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Raw, one of WWE's primary television programs, Matthews and York teamed up to defeat Phil Brown and Pat Cusick in a dark match. In the months that followed, Matthews wrestled for North America's three largest wrestling promotions, WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and ROH. His early months in WWE saw him taking on Lance Storm and Crowbar in dark matches, and Matt Hardy, Último Dragón and A-Train on Velocity. On July 19, 2003, at Death Before Dishonor, a Ring of Honor event, he teamed with Krazy K in a loss to Jeff Hardy in a handicap match. In August 2003, Matthews lost to Chris Sabin on an episode of TNA Xplosion. After spending some time at the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) training center in 2003, Matthews made several appearances in Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW), defeating A.J. Styles, before defeating Jerry Lynn and Sabu to become the number one contender to the 3PW Heavyweight Championship. On April 17, 2004, he defeated Raven to win the championship, a title he retained until August 21 of that year, when he lost it to Christopher Daniels in a four-way elimination match, also involving A.J. Styles and Chris Sabin. Meanwhile, Matthews was still active in WWE, and lost to Rhino and Maven on Sunday Night Heat. He was also still competing in TNA's X Division, and in August, he took part in a 20-Man Gauntlet match, in which Petey Williams won the X Division title. Afterwards, Matthews competed for Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC), losing to Eddie Colón in September, and exchanging victories with Alex Montalvo in November. World Wrestling Entertainment MNM (2004–2006) Matthews wrestled in dark matches before being