After wrestling on the independent circuit, he co-founded National Championship Wrestling in 1997 and won the promotion's Television Championship in January 1997. After losing the title on June 5, Michaels reclaimed the title on July 24. He soon lost the title to Cham Pain and the title would ultimately be vacated until 1999, until Michaels defeated Scotty Wrenn to win the title in July 1999 before losing it for the final time to his student A.J. Styles the following month. Soon afterwards, NCW was turned into a National Wrestling Alliance territory and was renamed to NWA Wildside. Upon the renaming, Michaels went on to win the promotion's Heavyweight Championship in 1999 and 2001 and its United States Heavyweight Championship twice in 2004 before the territory folded in 2005.
