return of Sting. Vampiro entered the vacant WCW United States Title tournament, losing to The Great Muta. He later joined Muta to attack Ernest 'The Cat' Miller. Vampiro won his first and only title in WCW with The Great Muta, by defeating KroniK in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 13, 2000. This reign was very short lived, however, as they lost the Tag Team Championship the very next night to Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Vampiro later turned his back on Muta, setting up a 3 Way match at Fall Brawl with himself, Sting and Muta, which was won by Sting. Vampiro then took time away from the sport as his wife had a baby. He returned a month later, where he defeated Crowbar in a Hardcore Match. Vampiro then challenged Mike Awesome at Halloween Havoc, losing via pinfall after a top rope Awesome Bomb. He was put out with an injury and did not recover before WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation. Thus, his final WCW appearance was on the November 1, 2000, episode of WCW Thunder when he teamed up with Jeff Jarrett to take on Sting and Mike Awesome, which led to a loss for Jarrett and Vampiro after Awesome performed a running powerbomb on Vampiro and pinned him. Hodgkinson has claimed that he was hospitalized during Vince McMahon's purchase of World Championship Wrestling. Hodgkinson was informed that WWF creative team had no plans for him and would not pick up his contract following the purchase. He had also claimed that he planned on leaving WCW before he broke his neck. Return to CMLL (2001–2005, 2007) With WCW out of business Vampiro headed back to CMLL and returned to action in June, 2001. In 2002, Vampiro would appear on several Pay-per-views and mostly teamed up with top CMLL name Shocker. On September 13, at CMLL 69. Aniversario, Vampiro and Shocker took on Los Guerreros del Infierno for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship and lost. Vampiro's last match for CMLL for two years came on April 3, 2005, where Shocker would defeat him. In 2007, Vampiro would return to CMLL for a second time where he competed for only a few months. World Wrestling Council (2002) In 2002 Vampiro Toured in Puerto Rico for Puerto Rican Promotion World Wrestling Council (WWC) Where he won the WWC Universal Heavyweight