 Kent made his professional wrestling debut in 1956 working under such names as "Don Kent", "Joe Smith" and "The Black Dragon", generally working as a heel (bad guy) in the Michigan area. In the first half of the 1960s Don Kent went to Arizona and worked in the local wrestling promotion, where he was booked as a sadistic heel. In Arizona, Kent worked a storyline that drew full houses at the Phoenix Madison Square Garden against local face (good guy) Tito Montez. The two faced off week after week in a variety of specialty matches such as a chain match, "Arizona death match" and falls count anywhere match. The angle ended with a steel cage match that saw Montez win after overcoming Kent ’ s cheating ways. One week after the storyline ended, attendance dropped by half and Don Kent soon left the area.
