text: Developmental (2001–2002) In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW, which included Moore's contract. Moore was assigned to the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), a Louisville-based WWF developmental territory. There, he teamed with Evan Karagias, and the two won the HWA Tag Team Championship on October 13, 2001, by defeating Dean and Chet Jablonski. They held the championship for a month, before losing it to The Island Boyz on November 14. In early 2002, Moore won the HWA Cruiserweight Championship on two occasions.
  Mattitude follower (2002–2003)
  In July 2002, Moore was assigned to the SmackDown! brand, initially appearing on Velocity. In December, Moore became a heel (villainous) acolyte of Matt Hardy, who had begun proselytizing a philosophy known as "Mattitude" and calling himself "Matt Hardy Version 1.0". Moore became a "Mattitude Follower" (abbreviated "MF'er") and started dressing like Hardy, accompanying him to ringside and interfering in his matches. Moore helped Hardy to lose several pounds in order to qualify for a WWE Cruiserweight Championship match at No Way Out. During the championship match, Moore distracted champion Billy Kidman to enable Hardy to get the win and the championship. On April 24, Crash Holly was revealed as the newest MF'er. He was subordinate to Moore and, as such, was referred to as a "Moore-on". When Hardy was displeased with either Moore or Holly, he would physically attack them. Holly was later released from WWE on June 30. On September 23, Moore and Hardy challenged Los Guerreros for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful.