defend his arm wrestling title. Van Hammer made a surprise appearance to accept the challenge and Page faked an arm injury and called it off. One month later, on the February 25 episode of WCW Pro, Page defeated Hammer in an arm wrestling match after Max Muscle interfered. World Wrestling Federation (1993) On July 26, 1993, Hildreth received a tryout match at a WWF Superstars taping in Utica, New York. Wrestling as Van Hammer, he worked as a heel, but was defeated by Virgil. The following day working as a babyface at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Plattsburgh, New York he was defeated by Damien Demento in another dark match. World Championship Wrestling (1997–2000) The Flock (1997–1998) Hildreth returned to WCW in November 1997 under the shortened ring name "Hammer", where he was placed in Raven's stable The Flock. Despite being an undercarder, much like the rest of The Flock's members, he was granted a title match against the United States Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page on the February 23, 1998, episode of Monday Nitro, but was unsuccessful in winning the title. On the March 2, 1998, episode of Nitro, Hammer lost to Page via disqualification in a title rematch. Singles competition (1998–1999) Hammer began jobbing to several top stars before winning a Loser Leaves The Flock match against fellow Flock member Perry Saturn on a special Friday episode of Nitro on May 4. Despite the win, The Flock attacked Hammer after the match and he was thrown out of the group. In his first match following his expulsion from The Flock, Hammer faced the new United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg for the title the following night on Saturday Night, but lost. He then abandoned the grunge-related attire he had while with The Flock and became a face by adopting a hippie gimmick. After spending the rest of 1998 and January 1999 jobbing, he became a heel again and changed his gimmick to that an anti-pacifist and returned to using his full Van Hammer name. Following this, he began a short winning streak over the next few weeks before losing to Bam Bam Bigelow on the February 22, 1999 episode of Nitro. Van Hammer quickly rebounded and began another winning streak over the following weeks on Nitro, Thunder, Saturday Night and even on pay-per-view at The Great American Bash on June 13 by defeating Mikey Whipwreck. Hammer's winning streak was