from television to recuperate. Ryan returned from injury at a house show in Jackson, Mississippi in late August. He made his television return on 8 September episode of WWE Superstars, defeating JTG. On 26 September, on Raw, Ryan was chosen by Vickie Guerrero as the partner for Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler in a six-man tag team match against Zack Ryder and Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston), but Ryan turned on Swagger and Ziggler turning Ryan face, allowing Ryder to pick up the victory for his team. The following week on Raw, Ryan teamed with Air Boom, Sheamus, CM Punk, and John Cena in a 12-man tag team match to defeat the team of Alberto Del Rio, Christian, Cody Rhodes, David Otunga, Ziggler, and Swagger. Ryan began feuding with Ziggler, with the pair trading wins via disqualification. Ryan was part of Team Orton at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November, where he was eliminated by Cody Rhodes. NXT (2012–2014) He appeared only sporadically on television throughout 2012, and he then rejoined the rebranded developmental system NXT. He returned to the ring and debuted on the rebooted WWE NXT show and began his singles winning streak on 30 January 2013, by defeating Sakamoto. Ryan then entered into a feud against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady; although he easily defeated them in singles matches, he lost to them in a handicap match. Mason was then rarely used on WWE television until he had his final televised match on 24 April 2014 episode of NXT, in a losing effort to number one contender for the NXT Championship. On 30 April 2014, it was reported that Ryan had been released by WWE. Independent circuit (2014–2015) After his release from WWE, Griffiths began wrestling on the independent circuit, still using his WWE name. His first appearance was for the American Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, where he became the new APWA Tri State Champion on 31 May. Mason made his debut for the WrestleSport promotion on 16 August where he defeated Adam Pearce to become the first WrestleSport Heavyweight Champion. On 5 September, at Full Impact Pro's Fallout, Ryan along with Michael Tarver and Shaun Ricker participated in a trios tournament, but were defeated by the Full Impact Puerto Ricans (Lince Dorado, Jay Cruz, and Jay Rios). On 5 June 2015, Ryan was defeated by then-Full Impact Pro Heavyweight Champion, Rich Swann. This was