Jimmy Valiant
Following the end of the NWA territory system, Link relocated to his native North Carolina where he became a trainer and promoter of independent wrestling in the Southeastern United States. It was on the independent circuit that he reinvented himself as a formidable "hardcore" wrestler and engaged in bloody brawls with Abdullah the Butcher, The Iron Sheik, Buddy Landel, Jimmy Valiant and Wahoo McDaniel. He has also been long billed as "World Brass Knuckles Champion" in his home state. Since the 1990s, he has been associated with Alternative Championship Wrestling, Carolina Championship Wrestling, Coastal Championship Wrestling, New Age Championship Wrestling and New Dimension Wrestling, the latter promotion associated with his Piedmont Triad wrestling school, the TNT Training Center. In recent years, he has appeared with other NWA territorial veterans of the Carolinas such as Bobby Eaton, The Barbarian, Ivan Koloff, Bobby Fulton, Jimmy Valiant, Tommy Young and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).