The IEW's Gunslinger was victorious in his first four matches, before losing to Black Dragon on January 3, 2002. The WCWF's Gunslinger went through some training as he headed into the new year. Gunslinger and Pyro Maniac started the year off on a winning note by defeating the team of Brian Clothier and Garrie Morris. However, they came up short during a Tag-Team #1 Contendership Match to the Dark Riders.
Later on in the month, Pyro and Gunslinger were able to work their way up to face the Dark Riders for the Tag-Team Championship. Again, they came up short. Now Gunslinger awaits his match against IEW's Gunslinger where the winner will not only get to keep his namesake, but also win the rights to the Alliance of Defiance as well. Gunslinger defeated the imposter and the imposter revealed himself as Gunslinger's bitter brother, Scotty Hunter. Hunter left the IEW and became the personal assistant of GWF President Steven Taylor. A week after Overflow, @IW closed its' doors leaving Gunslinger looking for employment once again.
During the month of February, as many as five wrestling companies inquired about Gunslinger's services. However, Gunslinger turned each one of them down so that he could take a break from action and attempt to heal many of his nagging injuries. However, the first full week of March proved to be even more intreging for the Gunslinger. With his rehab stint almost completed, Gunslinger fielded calls from four separate wrestling organizations about wrestling for their promotion, but ultimately decided to wrestle exclusively for Fallout Championship Wrestling. Gunslinger's debut match for the company is a three-way dance between himself, Raoh Shiro and Billy Bishop. During the match, FCW newcomers, The Shinning and Glimmer made their presence known by attacking Gunslinger during the match. Due to this, Gunslinger was named victorious by DQ, and named the FCW Heavyweight #1 Contender.
During the next week, the relationship between Gunslinger and his fellow Dark Asylum stablemates began to splinter. Gunslinger attacked the man who would face the winner of the Pyro/Gunslinger match at WrestleBowl I, in Garrie Morris. Morris promptly challenged Gunslinger to a match on the following Pandemonium that took place on 4/1/02. During the match, The Thrillseekers (Kid Jarrett & Devon Janero) aided Morris in beating down Gunslinger. Pyro Maniac came out to make the save, but was accused of taking his time to soften up Gunslinger. On 4/8/02, Gunslinger faced off against his tag-team partner, PyroManiac, for the FCW Heavyweight Championship. After a heavily contested match-up, Gunslinger was defeated. Following the match, Gunslinger and PyroManiac seemed to put their differences aside, but were attacked by Garrie Morris and the Thrillseekers.
Former stablemate, Jacques Armato, challenged Gunslinger to a match at the FCW's Wrestle Bowl I on 4/21/02, and Gunslinger accepted the match. During the match, all hell broke loose and the match ended up getting thrown out as a no contest. Later on in the evening, Gunslinger's tag-team partner, PyroManiac defended the FCW Heavyweight Title against Garrie Morris. Armato and the Thrillseekers rushed down to the ring as the referee was knocked out. Gunslinger rushed down to the ring apparently coming to his partner's aid, but instead, Gunslinger dropped PyroManiac on a steel chair with the Slingblade allowing Garrie Morris to get the pinfall and forging some kind of alliance with Morris and The Thrillseekers. Two days later on a special edition of Pandemonium (4/23/02), Gunslinger, Garrie Morris, Kid Jarrett and Devon Janero turned on Jacques Armato and brought in Edge Crusher and Kevin Osbourne to form a new version of the Alliance of Defiance. Gunslinger wasn't through just yet, he showed up during the Main Event scaffold match between Jacques Armato and PyroManiac. Pyro tried to defend himself with a fireball, but Gunslinger blocked it and caught Pyro on fire before tossing him down onto the concrete floor and knocking Armato out with another chair shot.
During the first week of May, "Toetagger" Tony Eriole challenged Gunslinger to a steel cage match at the FCW's upcoming PPV (5/19/02). Gunslinger accepted and now the two have engaged in a war of words that is continuing to build the heat between the Gunslinger's AOD and Eriole's Sinister 7. With ten days remaining till Aftershock, the heat between Eriole and Gunslinger continued to grow.
Gunslinger and his tag partner, "G-Force" Garrie Morris defeated the Ruthless Bastards (Tony Eriole and Texas Terror) on 5/13/02 on Pandemonium. Gunslinger followed this up with a victory against the Sinister 7's Dranjd two days later at On the Road. On 5/16/02 edition of Thrash, Gunslinger and Eriole taunted each other in their own unique style. On 5/19/02, Gunslinger defeated "Toetagger" Tony Eriole. In a rematch that took place later on that week, Eriole managed to pull out a win over Gunslinger. Gunslinger and his tag partner, "G-Force" Garrie Morris set their focus on Pro-Pain and Brian Clothier. Snake was also added as a member of the AOD during the week following Aftershock.
Gunslinger, Garrie Morris and the entire AOD started the month of June on fire. Devon Janero and Kid Jarrett captured the FCW Tag Team Titles from Sibling Rivalry (Billy Bishop and Mary Jane Golden), and Edge Crusher defeated Michael Voss to capture the FCW Extreme Title. On 6/6/02, Gunslinger wrestled against Texas Terror and was victorious. However, at the end of the night, Morris and Slinger again showed that their main focus was on Pro Pain when they attacked him following his Heavyweight Title win over Matthew Lyth.
On the 6/13/02 edition of Thrash, Gunslinger and Garrie Morris accepted a challenge issued by Pro Pain concerning his upcoming title defense at Retribution. On the same show, Gunslinger continued is up and down trend with his third straight victory of Raoh Shiro.
On 6/20/02,Gunslinger also picked up another victory in an FCW match against Glimmer giving him some momentum heading into the FCW Pay-Per-View, Retribution. At Retribution, Gunslinger came within inches of winning a title shot, however, PyroManiac interfered, costing Gunslinger a shot at Pro-Pain. Garrie Morris ended up pinning Pro-Pain, earning a title shot and winning the title later against Pro-Pain.
During the month of July, Gunslinger begin his assault on the FCW Heavyweight Division, and eventually earned a FCW Heavyweight Title shot against Garrie Morris on 7/28/02 at the Heat Wave PPV. On that same night, Gunslinger and Garrie Morris took part in Tag Team #1 Contendership match, and eventually won the match, allowing them to move on to face Fists of Fire for the FCW Tag Team Championship. Gunslinger and Morris defeated Fists of Fire for the FCW Tag Team Titles and in the very next match, Gunslinger defeated Morris to become the FCW Heavyweight Title.
On 8/8/02, Gunslinger and Garrie Morris successfully defended their Tag Titles against the team of Matthew Lyth and Revelation. Gunslinger followed this up by defending his FCW Heavyweight Title against PyroManiac on 8/12/02. The relationship between Garrie Morris and Gunslinger began to break down, and over the course of the next few weeks, it only got worse. Even with their relation in turmoil, Morris and Gunslinger had another successful Tag Title defense against the New Regime on 8/22/02. The in-fighting between Morris and Gunslinger came to a head at Disorderly Conduct on 8/25/02, on that night, Morris wrestled three grueling matches and was victorious in each of them. However, after his match with Matthew Lyth, Morris "fired" the AOD. With the bombshell of his partner apparently separating himself from the AOD, Gunslinger managed to focus his attention on Billy Bishop and successfully defend his title.
On the 8/26/02 edition of Pandemonium, Gunslinger let his intentions be known as he viciously attacked Garrie Morris and Samantha at the end of the show and challenging Morris to a match a singles match with the winner getting to choose a new tag partner to join him as the FCW Tag Team Champions. However, Morris threw out a challenge of his own. The challenge was for a six man tag match between Morris, Money Mac and a mystery partner (The partner turned out to be FCW Intercontinental Champion, Brian Clothier) against Gunslinger, Edge Crusher and Snake on the 8/29/02 edition of Thrash. Gunslinger and both members of K.A.O.S. agreed to the match and defeated the team of Morris, Clothier and Money Mac. On 9/2/02, at Pandemonium, Gunslinger and Garrie Morris squared off in a match to decide who would walk away with both titles, however, because of interference, the referee ruled the match and no contest forcing Morris and Slinger to remain together as a tag team. Later that week, on the 9/5/02 edition of Thrash, they defended their Tag Team Titles against the team of Chapel and Simon Synz, otherwise known as the Disciples of Destruction. During the match, Gunslinger was caught with Simon's Salvation and the DOD scored the victory over the Task Force. However, Gunslinger didn't suffer any hangover from dropping the FCW Tag Team Titles, as the very next week, on the 9/12/02 edition of Thrash, he defeated "Malevolent" Matthew Lyth to retain the FCW Heavyweight Title.
Following his match with Matthew Lyth, Gunslinger and the Alliance of Defiance continued their reign of tyranny. On 9/23/02, it was announced that Gunslinger would face Dethroned Emperor on 9/29/02 at Free Fall. Gunslinger went on to defeat Dethroned Emperor at Free Fall, and once again, successfully defended his title on 10/14/02 against Revelation. Gunslinger was now just one title defense away from becoming the longest reigning Heavyweight Champion in FCW History, and his next reign was scheduled for the FCW's Shocktoberfest on 10/27/02 against Armageddon. On that night, Armageddon was able to beat Armageddon, thus ending Gunslinger's title reign at 91 days.
Two weeks later, Gunslinger and Ken Shiro claimed that they were the #1 Contender to Jimmy Renegade's FCW Heavyweight Championship. Because of this, the FCW Owner, RK Anderson, mandated that the two take part in a best of five series to determine the true #1 Contender. Gunslinger defeated Ken Shiro 3-2 and took on Jimmy Renegade on 11/26/02 at Capital Combat and was victorious, thus beginning his second FCW Heavyweight Title reign. It was also on this night that Gunslinger's long-time friend, "Toetagger" Tony Eriole retired from wrestling.
During the previous few months, Gunslinger and the man that he started the original Alliance of Defiance with back in 1997 were able to put their differences aside, and actually reformed as a tag team, calling themselves Ethical Distortion.
Gunslinger's second FCW Heavyweight Title reign wasn't anywhere close to the first one, as on 12/9/02, Gunslinger was upended by Pro-Pain. Following the match, Gunslinger was also attacked by several wrestlers from the now defunct, ECWF. The attacks only served as a wake up call for Gunslinger, and in the last few weeks of December, Gunslinger dominated his opponents and was once again in the FCW Heavyweight Title picture heading into 2003.
