After spending three years in the independent circuit, Dane began wrestling for NWA Houston in May 2012. On July 13, 2012, Dane and Raymond Rowe won the NWA Lone Star Tag Team Championship, defeating Austin Rhodes and Chaz Taylor. After only three successful title defences Dane and Rowe lost the Tag Team Championship to The Kingz of The Underground on November 9, 2012 and were forced to disband as a tag team. December 14, 2012, Dane defeated Raymond Rowe, Ryan Genesis and Scot Summers in a fatal four way match for the NWA Lone Star Heavyweight Championship. Dane defended the title against former WWE and TNA superstars Scott Steiner and Lance Hoyt, before losing the Championship to Byron Wilcott on July 19, 2013. On August 17, 2013, Dane lost the NWA BOW Heavyweight Championship to Charlie Haas.
On November 9, Dane made his New Japan Pro Wrestling in-ring debut at Power Struggle, where The IronGodz defeated K.E.S. and Tencozy in the first fall of a two-fall three-way match to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. From November 23 to December 7, Dane and Conway took part in New Japan's 2013 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of three wins and three losses, failing to advance to the semifinals. Dane wrestled another match for New Japan on January 5, 2014, when he and Conway successfully defended the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Tencozy. Dane and Conway returned to New Japan on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, where they lost the NWA World Tag Team Championship to Tencozy. The following week, Dane took part in New Japan's trip to Taiwan, defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in his first singles match for the promotion on April 12, before he and Conway failed in their attempt to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Tencozy on April 13. Dane and Conway returned to New Japan in November to take part in the 2014 World Tag League. The team finished second to last in their block with a record of three wins and four losses.
Championship success (2015–2016)
On February 6, 2015, Dane defeated Lou Marconi to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. On April 12, Dane defeated Tim Storm to win the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship and unify it with NWA National Title. On April 17, Dane competed in NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling's Smoky Mountain Cup, defeating Gavin Daring in the first round, and going on to defeat Shawn Shultz, Vince Brent, Chase Owens, Jason Kincaid, and Jeff Connelly in a six-way elimination match to win the 2015 Smoky Mountain Cup. On May 28, 2015, Dane vacated the National Heavyweight and the North American Heavyweight Championships due to an injury. On August 29, 2015, Dane defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, ending Tenzan's reign after nearly seven months. Dane would go on to hold the title for nearly fourteen months before finally losing it to Tim Storm on October 21, 2016.
Dane, under the name Wilcox, debuted on the April 20, 2017 episode of Impact Wrestling by joining forces with Mayweather as a tag team called V.o.W, "Veterans of War"; both defeated Fallah Bahh and Mario Bokara in their debut match. On November 13, 2017, his profile was officially removed from the Impact Wrestling website, confirming his departure from the company.
