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Lopez debuted in 2005 for Scott County Wrestling (SCW).
He also worked for Ian Rotten's Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA) and entered the Ted Petty Invitational Tournament, defeating Sal Thomaselli before being eliminated by Matt Sydal in the quarterfinals in Hammond, Indiana, on September 23, 2005.
He later won the SCW Heavyweight Championship, and spray-painted the championship belt black to mark "The Black Era" in SCW.
He soon joined NWA Midwest and won the promotion's tag team championship with Marek Brave.
The two successfully defended the NWA Midwest Tag Team Championship against Ryan Boz and Danny Daniels, Brett Wayne and Hype Gotti, and Jayson Reign and Marco Cordova several times in early 2006.
He also faced Eric Priest and A.J. Styles in singles matches.
He briefly appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and teamed with Jeff Luxon in a loss to The Latin American Xchange (Homicide and Hernandez) on Impact in October 2006.
On May 25, 2007, while in a match with then Full Impact Pro (FIP) Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers in Melbourne, Florida, Black's tag team partner Marek Brave suffered a legitimate back injury that sidelined him for several weeks before ultimately causing him to retire (Brave eventually returned to competition in 2012).
During this time, Black pursued a singles career by competing in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he defeated Joey Ryan on June 10 and former mentor Danny Daniels at the supercard Point of No Return '07 on June 16.
At PWG's Life During Wartime on July 6, 2008, Black teamed with Jimmy Jacobs to win the PWG World Tag Team Championship by defeating Roderick Strong and El Generico, who was a replacement for Jack Evans.
At FIP's event on December 20, 2008, Black defeated Go Shiozaki to win the FIP World Heavyweight Championship.
At FIP's event on May 2, 2009, Davey Richards was awarded the FIP World Heavyweight Championship by forfeit when Black was unable to compete.