Blue Meanie once more as the b.W.o against old foes The F.B.I (Guido and Mamaluke). The b.W.o were eventually defeated following outside interference that led to the Blue Meanie being pinned, Richards appearing frustrated would Stevie-Kick Thomas "Inchworm" Rodman, with the announcers who had previously been positively remarking on his conditioning and ring-shape that "Stevie was here to win, not for nostalgia". Richards would then return for the company in June (now Extreme Rising) and begin a feud with Luke Hawx, who had been verbally attacking the ECW alumni. Hawx defeated Richards using heel tactics in New York but Richards would defeat him the following night in Philadelphia with a Stevie-Kick, earning his first win for the promotion. Richards was then entered into an eight-man tournament to crown the first Extreme Rising World Champion. On November 17 at the "Remember November" iPPV, Richards would defeat Papadon by submission to advance into the semi-finals. Later in the show, Richards would confront Raven who had been running down the promotion, which led to a "Loser Leaves Town" match which ended as No Contest due to interference from Raven's new Flock, who Richards would decimate through a series of Steve-Kicks and Stevie-Bombs. On December 29, 2012, Richards would win the tournament and the World Championship by first defeating Luke Hawx in the semi-finals and then Rhino in the final round to become the first Extreme Rising World Champion. He would win all matches by submission with the "I'll Tap You," following this final round win, the Extreme Rising locker room surrounded the ring to congratulate him on his first World Championship. Following Stevie's championship win over Rhino, he soon took the title overseas where he defended against Tarkan Aslan for the DWA promotion in Germany before returning to America and defending the belt for other independent promotions such as Coastal Championship Wrestling, I Believe In Wrestling, and Southern Championship Wrestling Florida. Title defenses then became less regular, though Stevie was due to defend the title three times at Extreme Rising's Wrestlemania weekend shows, notably against mentor/nemesis Raven, the events were cancelled which was followed by a brief dispute with Stevie and Extreme Rising. However, title defenses eventually resumed as Stevie defeated Kenny Kendrick at a SCW show in August 2013 prior to him making his first defense in an Extreme Rising ring at the December 28th 2013 iPPV "Unfinished Business" where he defeated