After the company was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment in May 2002, Hugger returned to WWE television on the June 30, 2002 episode of "Sunday Night Heat" under the ring name Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, losing via disqualification to Tommy Dreamer. On the July 15 episode of "Raw", Stamboli won the Hardcore Championship, his first title in WWE, from Bradshaw. Bradshaw would, however, regain the title from Hugger later that night. On the July 29 episode of "Raw", Stamboli won the Hardcore Title once again after pinning Jeff Hardy, but lost the title a few seconds later to Tommy Dreamer. Following this, he became a mainstay on "Heat" and would later turn face due to fan reaction in late September 2002.