Bedlam was booked for one title reign with the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship during his stint in SMW. The kayfabe rules behind the title state that any wrestler winning five consecutive matches as champion would win $5,000 but be forced to vacate the title. He won a match against Mike Furnas on April 4, 1994 to win the title, and he defended it over the following month. Bedlam won his fifth match on May 2 with a victory over Anthony Michaels, and the storyline saw him forced to give up the title. On May 20, he defeated Randy Savage with help from Dory Funk Jr. He went on to feud with Tracy Smothers, and the two wrestled in a lengthy series of matches, including several Coalminer's glove matches, in which a glove is available for the wrestlers to use as a weapon. Later that year, Bedlam wrestled several matches against "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony. The series consisted of several steel cage matches in which Bedlam put Anthony over, as well as tag team matches where Bedlam teamed with Cornette and Anthony teamed with Ron Wright. As Bruiser Bedlam, Croitoru was successful in the SMW, but the company's financial problems caused him to seek work elsewhere. Late career (1994–1998, 2013) In 1994, Croitoru also began wrestling in Midwest Territorial Wrestling, an independent promotion based in Michigan. He continued using the ring name Taras Bulba and proclaimed himself "King of Chain matches". He competed in a tournament to determine the promotion's first heavyweight champion, but Al Snow defeated him in the final round. Bulba was pushed for a run with the belt, however, defeating Mickey Doyle on January 21, 1995, to win the vacant title. He held the championship for almost four months before dropping it to Marty Jannetty. As Johnny K-9, Croitoru returned to the WWF for one match where he defeated Gary Scott in a dark match on January 23, 1995. Cornette had booked the WWF match in the hope that Croitoru might be able to return to the WWF, but the company was not interested. He then competed briefly in Cleveland All Pro Wrestling, where he wrestled against Cactus Jack in a booked loss on March 23. Croitoru also wrestled in Border City Wrestling (BCW) and was pushed to win the BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship by defeating Scott D'Amore on May 21, 1995. He held the