He won the PWA Light Heavyweight title from Jerry Lynn in April of 1991. He entered the new Global Wrestling Federation's Light Heavyweight tournament, and defeated Jerry Lynn in the finals to become the first champ. Waltman lost the GWF belt to Chaz in September and lost the PWA title to Ricky Rick in December.

Waltman later teamed with Jerry Lynn to win the vacant PWA tag titles in March of 1992. The Kid left PWA to enter the WWF, and the titles were vacated. Was tried out in the WWF as the Kamikaze Kid and the Cannonball Kid… In a match where he was billed simply as "The Kid" around June or July, Waltman got a surprise win over Razor Ramon. Proud of his victory, he began calling himself the 1-2-3 Kid. Ramon, ashamed of being beaten by the Kid, had to offer him cash to get the Kid back in the ring with him, and the kid pulled out a surprise win again.

Money Inc. mocked Ramon, and Ted Dibiase wanted to show Ramon how it was done. Ramon distracted Dibiase during a match with the Kid, allowing him the win… The Kid challenged Dibiase's partner, Irwin R. Shyster, in his first PPV match at SummerSlam, but IRS defeated the Kid.

Ramon and the Kid became friends and occasional tag partners. 1-2-3 Kid, along with Marty Janetty, were survivors in his first Survivor Series in 1993.

1-2-3 Kid and Marty Janetty won the tag titles from the Quebecers in January, but only held onto them for a few days. 1-2-3 Kid entered the King of the Ring tournament in June, defeating Jeff Jarrett but losing to Owen Hart in the semi-finals, who went on to beat Razor Ramon and win the tournament.

The Kid and Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly caught a big break when the Smoking Gunns suffered an injury, and the duo got their spot in a tag tournament for the vacant titles. The two defeated Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals for the Kid's second tag title reign. The second reign was even shorter than the first, since the Smoking Gunns won the titles from Holly and the Kid the next night.

In October of '94, the Kid teamed with Razor Ramon to challenge the Smoking Gunns for the tag titles. The Kid was pinned, and snapped after the match, blaming Razor. He was bought later in the year by Ted Dibiase to be in his Million Dollar Corporation. Dibiase teamed him up with Sycho Sid, as the team "Sid and the Kid", but the two didn't make many waves in the tag team division.

The Feud between Ramon and the Kid culminated in a "Cry Baby" match, which the Kid lost and was forced to dress up like a baby. Waltman was let go by the WWF early in the year, but turned up in WCW as a part of the New World Order, and was called "Syxx" (which happens to be the sum of the 1-2-3 Kid's numbers). Syxx and the Outsiders collectively formed The Wolfpack.

Waltman stole the United States title from its rightful holder, Eddie Guerrero, feuding with him for the belt.

Syxx lost a ladder match against US champ Eddie Guerrero at Souled Out in January of 1997. He defeated Dean Malenko the following month for the Cruiserweight title. He became one of Ric Flair's biggest critics, feuding with him for several months… In June, Syxx accepted a challenge from Chris Jericho after having already wrestled a match. Jericho defeated Syxx and took the Cruiserweight title.

Syxx substituted for Kevin Nash (due to injuries) in a World tag title defense in xxx, where Scott Hall and Syxx lost the tag belts to the Steiner Brothers. The next night, the Steiners were forced, by Eric Bischoff to return the titles to their 'rightful owners'. Syxx later suffered a neck injury putting him on the shelf for several months.

Waltman was fired from WCW in March of this year, partly because of a dispute between Eric Bischoff, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash, and partly because of his long period of time on the injury list.