The Dan Rageous who arrived in AWESOME in early 2008 would probably not be recognizable to the legions of fans who cheer his ever move now-a-days. Yes, hard as it is to believe today, Rageous showed up as an under-handed rulebreaker in his AWESOME debut, where he frequently teamed with Chris Banks. The duo had little success however, and after a loss to Great Cerenzio & Kevin the Bartender in near 20 minute hard fought match, Banks turned on his partner with a viscous assault.
Yet Rageous had earned the respect of both Cerenzio and the fans in that fateful match and thus the fans sided with him as he battled his ex-partner. From then on Rageous heard the cheers of the fans, and more importantly, his new comitment to sportsmanship saw him go on a huge winning streak that has lasted to close for two years. By the end of 2008 Rageous had defeated his former partner in both singles and tag matches, and then rose to the top of the cruiserweight contender rankings with a victory over Chaz Moore before winning the title in a two out of three falls match against Banks at Summer Heat.
As Champion Rageous first got the belt air-brushed to "Jersey Shore it up" showing a fun side which only made him more popular. He's also faced several top contenders including Radical Robby Morrison and Shadow (whom he defeated in a ladder match). He even saw success against much bigger competitors when despite being the smallest man in the match he won the Battleship Battle Royal onboard the Battleship New Jersey. As Dan would say about his success, "that's not just outrageous, that's Dan Rageous!"