 In September 1998, Haworth began training under Les Thatcher in the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) in Cincinnati, Ohio, incurring large debts in the process.After debuting in September 1999, working under the ring name Nigel McGuinness and defeating GQ Masters III in a match that was featured on ABC's "20/20", he spent a year wrestling in the mid west.Haworth returned to England where he worked two full-time jobs to earn enough money to be able to return to the United States to wrestle, and wrestled for All Star promotions between September and December 2001, where he learned from wrestlers such as Robbie Brookside.