in the first round. On the February 19 episode of 205 Live, TJP was defeated by Humberto Carrillo in what would be his final WWE match. On February 22, 2019, Perkins was released from his WWE contract. Return to independent circuit (2019) On May 3, 2019, Perkins returned to the ring following his release from WWE. In his first match back, he competed for Empire Wrestling Federation in Covina, California. A few days later he would wrestling for Sami Callihan's promotion, The Wrestling Revolver in a triple-threat with Rich Swann and Ace Austin. Following that he would wrestle for various promotions including AAW Wrestling, PCW Ultra and Defy Wrestling. On October 12, 2019, Perkins wrestled for the Philippine Wrestling Revolution against former PWR Champion Jake de Leon in PWR: Homecoming. Perkins won the match after he countered De Leon's submission move into a pinfall win. On November 16, 2019, Perkins appeared at Amazing Red's promotion House of Glory for their "No Limit" event and defeated Mantequilla to win the HOG Crown Jewel Championship. Return to Impact Wrestling (2019–2021) TJP returned to Impact Wrestling on the June 21, 2019 episode of Impact, defeating Ace Austin. TJP made an unannounced appearance at Slammiversary XVII, where he competed in a four-way match, which was won by Willie Mack. In September, he forged an alliance with Fallah Bahh and they began feuding with Michael Elgin. On the March 31, 2020 special episode of Impact, TJP returned as Manik, teaming with Suicide as his two former personas joined to pick up a victory. On the August 18 special episode of Impact, TJP would fail to win the Impact X Division Championship after Rohit Raju pinned the champion Chris Bey. He would then fail to win the championship from Raju at Bound for Glory in a Scramble match and on the November 10 episode of Impact. At Final Resolution, TJP revived his Manik persona and defeated Raju to win the Impact X Division Championship, using a loophole through a clause that said TJP could not compete for the title as long as Raju was champion. Raju and Chris Bey would attempt to prove that TJP was in fact Manik but all attempts failed. He retained at Hard To Kill despite attempts to unmask him (which he thwarted by simply wearing face paint). TJP lost the title to Ace Austin at Sacrifice, ending his reign at 92