text: Early career (1989–1990) Alfonso was trained to wrestle by Steve Keirn, debuting on February 26, 1989, at the Eddie Graham Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. Alfonso trained for about one year along with former professional wrestlers, Dennis Knight (Mideon, Phineas Godwin) and "Big" Al Green before making his debut. Alfonso competed in Florida Championship Wrestling, USWA, NWA and World Championship Wrestling, before making his way to FMW in Japan.
  Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
  Initial years (1990–1992)
  Alfonso moved on to Japan, joining Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in September 1990 and using the name The Gladiator. He was recruited by FMW as the replacement for Al Green, who was originally scheduled to compete as Gladiator but moved to WCW. Alfonso debuted in FMW as a monster villain on September 20 in a street fight with Mr. Pogo against Atsushi Onita and Jimmy Backlund, which Alfonso's team won. Gladiator was Pogo's ally who feuded with Onita and competed with Pogo against Onita and his partners. He lost to Onita in a Chain Deathmatch on October 1, after which Alfonso returned to United States. Onita was impressed by Gladiator and called him back for more tours with FMW. He returned to the company as Mr. Pogo's partner in a tag team tournament on January 6, 1991, where the duo lost their first match in the tournament against Onita and Sambo Asako. Pogo and Gladiator made to the semi-final, where they beat Grigory Verichev and Boris Gogichashivili and then defeated Onita and Asako in the final on January 15 to win the tournament. The success of the tournament led Alfonso to work full-time with FMW.