Rivera was inspired to be a wrestler after speaking with Joe Gamble, a wrestler and acquaintance from Rivera's time in the Marines at a WWElive event in San Diego.[7] After initial training with and competing in matches for SoCal Pro Wrestling, Rivera would start wrestling for promotions in Southern California and Tijuana specifically for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and The Crash Lucha Libre.[7] Rivera would be in the Los Primos Rivera tag team with Gino Rivera in 2016.
Championship Wrestling From Hollywood (2019–present)
In 2019, Limelight would begin to feature more prominently on Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. He would be on the losing end against Royce Isaacs for the UWN Television Championship[9][10] and compete in a Fatal Four-Way match with Brandon Cutler, Adrian Quest, and Fidel Bravo at the 2019 Coastline Clash.[11] Limelight was one of a group of wrestlers from Championship Wrestling to compete at Impact Wrestling'sUnbreakable event in 2019.
In 2020, Limelight would begin teaming with Papo Esco to form the tag team, the Bodega,[12] becoming UWN Tag Team Champions.[13] In 2021, Limelight and Esco would add Slice Boogie to their group.[14] Together, the trio invoked Freebird Rule to defend the titles until their defeat against the Midnight Heat.[15]
Danny Limelight debuted at New Japan Pro-Wrestling'sLion's Break Collision event and was one of the first mainstays on NJPW Strong. Limelight was an entrant in Strong's Lion's Break Crown tournament where he defeated Barrett Brown in the first round and Blake Christian in the semi-finals. Limelight would lose in the finals of the tournament to Clark Connors.[19] Not long after his loss, Limelight would attack Rocky Romero after his match with Rust Taylor and align with Team Filthy.[20] Limelight would feud on and off with Romero, often being on the opposite side of him in tag team matches. Limelight would also face Homicide at Detonation 2022.
As part of an agreement with MLW, Danny Rivera wrestled for International Wrestling Association during their Christmas in PR 2021. Teaming up with Savio Vega, Rivera faced The Owners of Time (Nick Mercer & Leinord White) to a no contest. On January 15, 2022, Rivera and Slice Boogie defeated Mercer and Manny Freno (replacing White) for the IWA World Tag Team Championships in a match where the MLW tag team titles were on the line.[30] 5150 would hold the titles until February 26, 2022, when they would be defeated by Lightning & Mr. Big.