He was given a choice of going to jail or entering the military. He chose the latter, joining the United States Navy. After basic training, Ashenoff was relocated to San Diego, and assigned to a destroyer tender in the Pacific Fleet – the USS Cape Cod (AD-43). He won the California state (amateur) Middleweight Boxing Championship in 1983. He set a goal to qualify for the Junior Olympics in boxing, but injured his shoulder in training and was deployed to the Middle East subsequent to the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut on April 18, 1983. His ship was in the Strait of Hormuz when the US Marine barracks (along with the French paratrooper barracks) in Beirut were bombed on October 24, 1983. By 1984, the Cape Cod was rotated out of the Persian Gulf. Ashenoff returned to San Diego, and received an honorable discharge. Professional wrestling career Early career (1988–1996) In San Diego, Konnan met John Roberts. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter then details Ashenoff's first foray in to professional wrestling: Carlos traveled to Tijuana on Wednesday, January 6, 1988, (his 24th birthday), where he was led to the dressing area and introduced to Manuel de los Santos, the promoter of the show, and who also wrestled in the main event as "Kiss". De los Santos took one look at the 215-pound bodybuilder and did the classic double-take –– what the hell is this guy doing here, and, how quickly can I get this guy in the ring. Konnan introduced himself and explained how he was brought here by his manager/agent, John Roberts. Roberts had already bragged to de los Santos that Carlos had been a wrestler in Florida. Suddenly, a big roar (laughter) went up from another wrestler, Miguel Lopez, who wrestled as Rey Mysterio. Lopez/Mysterio explained to Carlos that Roberts was just a nutty fan, always in the front row, but that he did nothing involved with managing or agent-ing or anything else in the business. Still, the wrestlers asked Carlos, want to give it a try? Billed as El Centurión ("The Centurion"), Ashenoff debuted for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) on January 6, 1988. In the early part of his career, he wrestled for many different promotions. After making his debut for UWA, Konnan wrestled for the UWA Heavyweight title against El Canek at UWA 14 on January 29, 1989, and wrestled six- and eight-man