Professional wrestling career Early career Arriaga began wrestling at Burges High School from 1992 to 1996, where in 1995 he placed 3rd in State of Texas and in 1996 he became an undefeated State Champion. He then embarked on a professional career, as he managed to continue working for his family's funeral home in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico during the early 2000s under the ring name "Mistico". This masked ring persona may or may not have preceded the in-ring debut of Místico (Luis Urive) in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), but Paco Alonso owned the legal rights to the name "Místico" since 1999 anyway, forcing Arriaga to change his name to "Mystico" or "Mistico de Juarez" to differentiate from the original. On February 2, 2004 he defeated Nicho El Millonario to win the WWA Middleweight Championship but was stripped of the title in March when he had to stop wrestling in the Tijuana, Baja California area where the World Wrestling Association was based. Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2004–2005) In early 2004, he began working regularly for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), CMLL's main Mexican rival and had to change his name in order to avoid any type of legal problems. With minor adjustments to his mask and tights, he became known as "Incognito" instead. While he was signed to AAA for over a year, Incognito made few wrestling appearances, spending most of his time training in AAA's school to improve his wrestling skills. In 2005, he had left AAA and began working for various independent wrestling promotions on both sides of the US/Mexico border, exploiting the fact that he was a US citizen and spoke English well to get more bookings in the US than most luchadors typically can. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006) Incognito first made a name for himself in the United States when he participated in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) 2006 World X-Cup Tournament. As part of Team Mexico, Incognito's only match in the World Cup tournament was a 16-man gauntlet match that included all four World Cup teams. Incognito was eliminated by Sonjay Dutt. Team Mexico finished in third place out of four teams. National Wrestling Alliance (2007) Following his appearance for TNA, Incognito began working regularly for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), often teaming with fellow Luchador Sicodelico Jr. The two participated in a tournament to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions,