In 1999, Ward formed Sick Speed with singer and guitarist Dale Steele, Mojo bassist Dan Dryden and Mojo drummer Frank "Bud" Fontsere. The same year, Ward met World Wrestling Entertainment (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF) superstar Chris Jericho backstage at a WWF show. The two bonded over their love of 1980s heavy metal and Ward invited Jericho to join his side band Fozzy Osbourne which would later transform into the "mock rock" band Fozzy. While the band was originally supposed to be just a fun side project, the band was courted by Metal Blade Records and filmed a "mockumentary" that aired on MTV. The show provided a fictional back story about the band, alleging that the members of Fozzy had in fact written many of the more popular 1980s metal songs, but that an unfair contract had forced the band to remain in Japan for the past 20 years, allowing other acts to take credit for the compositions. Jericho went by the alter ego of "Moongoose McQueen" and adamantly denied that McQueen and Jericho were the same person.