Booker T and his wife Sharmell belittled him and made jokes about his quick submission losses to Benoit. Booker asked Randy Orton to substitute for him. After Orton failed to win the deciding match, leading Jordan to once again ask for the position the next week, Booker T once again turned Jordan down after belittling him. During the sixth match in the series, Jordan jumped the rail, grabbed Booker T's crutch, and hit Benoit for a disqualification finish and thus giving Benoit the victory and tying the Best of Seven Series at 3–3. The next week, Jordan ran to ringside to attempt to halt Booker T from winning the championship, but was unable to prevent Orton from eventually beating Benoit to win the series for Booker T. On the January 20 episode of SmackDown!, Jordan faced and lost to Randy Orton after Booker's wife Sharmell distracted the SmackDown! senior official referee Nick Patrick, before Booker hit him with a leg crutch. After the match, Chris Benoit saved him from Booker and Orton, turning him face for the first time since 2004. Jordan was then pushed down to Velocity and won several matches there. Jordan made his final SmackDown! appearance on the May 12 episode of SmackDown! in a backstage segment, telling Nunzio that he had seen someone who looked like his partner Vito dressed in drag at a night club during the recent UK tour. His final WWE appearance was a loss to Gunner Scott on the May 13 episode of Velocity. On May 26, 2006, WWE released Jordan from his WWE contract, reportedly due to bringing unauthorized people backstage with him. Independent circuit (2006–2010) Jordan began competing on the independent circuit soon after his WWE departure along with wrestling overseas, most notably for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a promotion based in Italy, as well as New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Jordan became NWE Champion in April 2008. Later in that month, he was involved in a confrontation with the Ultimate Warrior, leading to the return of Warrior after a ten-year absence to face Jordan in a match in June 2008. Jordan lost the title to Warrior on June 25, 2008, in Barcelona, while holding the honor of being Warrior's very last opponent. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2011) On the January 4, 2010, live, three-hour, Monday night edition of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact! television show Jordan made his debut for the company in