 He was assigned to their developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling and began working under the pseudonym "The Puerto Rican Nightmare" Eric Pérez.During his time there, he wrestled in singles matches, in addition to teaming with Montel Vontavious Porter and later, Sonny Siaki with whom he formed the tag team, Urban Assault.The team won the Deep South Tag Team Championship once before the company finished its business relationship with WWE.