He returned to wrestling in 2005 and entered Chikara'sTag World Grand Prix 2005 with partner Claudio Castagnoli and made it to the finals to face Superfriends, Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush. That night, Hero turned on Quackenbush and joined Cannon and Castagnoli, leading Cannon and Castagnoli to win the Tag World Grand Prix. The three began calling themselves The Kings of Wrestling. The began feuding with Quackenbush, but Cannon left the group in 2005. Cannon competed in the Tag World Grand Prix 2006 with Jigsaw as his partner, but lost in the second round. During June 2006, Arik Cannon wrestled in Chikara's fourth annual Young Lions Cup tournament. In the final round, he defeated Cheech to win the tournament. At Chikara's Cibernetico Forever event in October 2006, however, Max Boyer managed to beat him for the Cup.
Wrestling Society X (2006–2007)
In November 2006, Arik Cannon partook in the Wrestling Society X promotion's first season of television tapings, which later aired on MTV.
In October 2007, Cannon went to Japan for a tour with Dragon Gate and was brought into the Muscle Outlawz faction by Naruki Doi along with fellow gaijins Kevin Steen and Jimmy Rave.
Dragon Gate USA (2009–2015)
On September 6, 2009, Cannon made his debut for Dragon Gate USA at the tapings of the promotion's second pay-per-view titled Untouchable. He would wrestle in an eight-way dark match, which was won by Johnny Gargano. After making several appearances for the promotion in 2010, Cannon was entered into the Breakout Challenge tournament on April 1, 2011. After defeating AR Fox, Facade and Shiima Xion in his first round match, Cannon defeated Jimmy Rave in the finals to win the tournament. Two days later at Open the Ultimate Gate, Cannon and Sami Callihan wrestled in a six–way match, before deciding to walk out on the match. Later in the event, Cannon and Callihan announced they would be forming a tag team named the D.U.F. and defeated the Dark City Fight Club in their first match together. On June 5 at Enter The Dragon 2011, Cannon and Callihan were joined by Pinkie Sanchez, before picking up a major win over the tag team of Open the Dream Gate ChampionMasaaki Mochizuki and Susumu Yokosuka.
F1RST Wrestling (2007–present)
In 2007, Cannon founded the Minneapolis-based promotion F1RST Wrestling, which hosts the majority of its events at Minneapolis' First Avenue nightclub. In more recent years, the promotion has expanded to host events at an eclectic assortment of locations throughout Minneapolis, including the James Ballentine VFW and Temple of Aaron Synagogue. Several performers from F1RST Wrestling have found later success in larger promotions, such as Seth Rollins and Ariya Daivari.
