Raw. After being told by SmackDown General Manager Booker T to "step it up", Hawkins and Reks debuted a stripper gimmick on the August 17 episode of SmackDown while squashing a jobber tag team. A week later, Reks asked for her release as she intended to retire from wrestling to spend more time with her family; she and WWE parted ways on August 21, thus ending the team. In October, Hawkins announced that he had undergone surgery for a torn posterior cruciate ligament and meniscus. NXT and departure (2013–2014) On the January 21, 2013 Raw, a short-haired Hawkins returned on television tapings in a show-closing brawl. He made his return match on the February 9 episode of Saturday Morning Slam, losing to Justin Gabriel. After that, Hawkins most commonly appeared on Superstars and NXT, where he lost all of his matches. On the May 8, 2014 episode of NXT, Hawkins competed in a battle royal to determine number one contender for the NXT Championship, in which he was unsuccessful. On the May 22 episode of NXT, Hawkins faced Adrian Neville in a losing effort. On June 12, WWE announced that Hawkins was released from his contract. Independent circuit (2014–2016) A day after his release from WWE, Myers wrestled at a Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW) event, teaming with Val Venis to defeat Danny Demento and Erik Andretti. On August 29, 2014, Myers made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), losing to A.J. Styles in the first round of the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles. In April 2015, Myers defeated Brent Banks, in Alpha-1 Wrestling, to win the A1 Alpha Male Championship and the first singles championship in his pro wrestling career. He would later lose the title, in June, to Josh Alexander. In June 2015, Myers defeated Chris Payne, in Pro Wrestling Syndicate (PWS), to win the PWS Television Championship. In August 2015, Myers defeated Papadon, in Five Borough Wrestling (FBW), to win the FBW Heavyweight Championship. In September 2015, Myers lost his PWS Television Championship to Chris Payne. In December, Myers regained the title after he defeated Payne in a ladder match. In April 2016, Myers defended his FBW Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match and lost his title to Mike Verna. Global Force Wrestling (2015) On July 24, 2015, Myers made his Global Force Wrestling debut entering a tournament to crown the inaugural GFW Global Champion but