In 1994, Orton made a few appearances for Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling. That same year, Orton wrestled for the American Wrestling Federation, and during his time in the AWF, he was managed by Oliver Humperdink. Orton challenged Tito Santana for the AWF Championship, with AWF commissioner Jim Brunzell as the special referee for the match, but Orton lost the match. During 1995 and 1996 he feuded with Santana. During Orton's time in the AWF, Orton received a big push, and he was the number one contender for Santana's AWF Championship in 1996. He won the AWF Championship in his second attempt, before losing the championship to Santana that same night in the last round. He had a brief feud in 1997 against "Sexy" Ace Steele in MVWA in St. Louis. In 1999, he appeared at the Heroes of Wrestling PPV, in which Orton was defeated by former rival Jimmy Snuka, after an interference of Snuka's manager Lou Albano. He retired from full-time active competition in that same year, but has continued to wrestle on a semi-regular basis.