Hughes debuted in World Championship Wrestling in November 1990, where he was called Big Cat. At Starrcade 1991, he was billed as Big Cat Hughes, and subsequently became known as Mr. Hughes, a heel enforcer gimmick with a suit and constant frown. He was a member of faction The York Foundation. He later became bodyguard for Lex Luger and his manager Harley Race, coming down to ringside with Race in the closing moments of Luger's win of the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, distracting opponent Barry Windham so that Luger, under orders from Race, could administer a piledriver to win the match and the championship. Champion Luger, manager Race and bodyguard Hughes formed a heel faction, inflicting beatdowns to Luger's challengers and with Hughes and Race interfering in Luger's title matches. This ultimately resulted in Hughes being banned from ringside for Luger's high profile title defenses against Ron Simmons at Halloween Havoc 1991 and Rick Steiner at Clash of the Champions XVII. Still managed by Race, in early 1992 he also teamed frequently with Big Van Vader, Cactus Jack and Vinnie Vegas.
In summer 1992, near the end of his WCW run, he turned face and became Big Cat again, teaming with Junkyard Dog to feud with The Vegas Connection.
In 1993, Hughes briefly joined the World Wrestling Federation, as part of the feud between The Undertaker and Harvey Wippleman. Hughes stole The Undertaker's urn, but then lost every match between them and relinquished it. He left WWF soon after. During his stay, he also lost to Mr. Perfect by disqualification in the 1993 King of the Ring. Hughes' last televised match was against Tatanka and lost via countout when his sunglasses cracked into his eyes and was released the next day.
In October 1993, Hughes debuted for Extreme Championship Wrestling. In 1994, he became bodyguard for Shane Douglas during Douglas' first and second ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns. He frequently teamed with Douglas, as well as wrestling in singles matches, nicknamed "The Ruffneck".
Hughes made two more brief appearances for the WWF, first as Hunter Hearst Helmsley's bodyguard in 1997 (before being replaced by Chyna). He made a brief return in 1999 as a masked opponent for Chris Jericho called "Gotch Gracie". This was revealed to be a set up however as Ken Shamrock attacked, until Jericho and "Gracie" both attacked Shamrock with "Gracie" revealing himself to be Mr. Hughes his new bodyguard (as Curtis Hughes). He aligned himself with Jericho and Howard Finkel (who was Jericho's lackey at the time), however Jericho turned on him during a tag team match and Hughes lost Finkel in a poker game to the APA. After this, he left the WWF yet again.