TNA: Homicide, Part 3

Dan Maff, another student of Homicide's, won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship on December 13, 2003. He held the title throughout 2004, dominating the title scene. However, in March 2005, Homicide and Maff had a legitimate falling-out, with Homicide announcing that Maff had betrayed him, and that he would refuse to work for any promotion which employed Maff. This effectively led to Maff being blackballed from professional wrestling. As a result, the JAPW Heavyweight Championship was vacated.

Jay Lethal had pursued the JAPW Heavyweight Championship for several months and was widely expected to be the next champion. The title was put on the line in a match between Lethal and an undisclosed opponent on March 26. The opponent was revealed to be the returning Homicide, who defeated Lethal for an unparalleled sixth JAPW Heavyweight Championship. His reign lasted until May 21, when Lethal finally won the belt in a four way match. The following week, Homicide announced that he was temporarily leaving JAPW, but promised to go on a "murdering spree" and become a seven time JAPW Heavyweight Champion when he returned.

On October 22, 2005, Homicide teamed with his long-term nemesis Teddy Hart to defeat the Backseat Boyz for the JAPW Tag Team Championships. Their reign lasted until November 12 of that year, when Kashmere and Acid regained the titles.

Homicide's first independent exposure came in 2002 when he was recruited by the upstart Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. He and Boogalou wrestled on the first ever ROH show, The Era of Honor Begins, on February 23, and lost to the Boogie Knights by disqualification after they used a rubber chicken as a weapon. The Natural Born Sinners were a dominant tag team in ROH, beating The Carnage Crew at the July 27 Crowning a Champion event, and also won at the August 24 Honor Invades Boston event, defeating Tony Mamaluke and James Maritato.

After Boogalou suffered an injury and then jumped ship to Rob Black's Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion (Homicide was also offered a contract by XPW but opted to remained with ROH), Homicide appeared alone at Glory by Honor. Responding to challenge from The Backseat Boyz, he invited anyone in the locker room to be his partner. Steve Corino responded to his offer, and Corino and Homicide faced the Backseat Boys later that night. In the course of the match, Corino turned on Homicide after Homicide accidentally hit him, superkicking his partner and leaving the ring, enabling the Backseat Boyz to easily defeat Homicide.

Homicide and Corino would begin a four year rivalry, with Corino criticizing Homicide's lifestyle and somewhat checkered past. The feud culminated in a match at the One Year Anniversary Show on February 8, 2003 in Queens, New York, New York. Homicide was the hometown favorite, but lost to Corino following interference from The Group, Corino's entourage. After the match, Corino applied a cobra sleeper to Homicide, instigating a riot.

After regaining some momentum by defeating Christopher Daniels on the April 12 ROH event, Epic Encounter, Homicide defeated CM Punk in a match for the number one contendership on April 26 at Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II. Homicide faced ROH World Champion Samoa Joe on May 31 at Do or Die, hoping not only to win the title, but to gain revenge on Joe for helping Corino defeat him in his hometown. Despite the support of his manager, Julius Smokes, and his close friend and former student, Low Ki, Homicide lost cleanly to Joe.