After leaving the WWF, Levy began developing a new character, "Raven". Inspired by the poem by Edgar Allan Poe and by Patrick Swayze's manipulative Zen master of crime in the film "Point Break", the Raven character was a depressed, sociopathic, stoical, nihilistic misanthrope who would deliver eloquent, philosophical promos peppered with literary allusions and ending with the catchphrase, "Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore'". Levy dramatically altered his appearance, bulking-up to approximately 235 lbs (107 kg), adding nose and eyebrow piercings and began wrestling in ragged jean shorts, a leather jacket, rock band or comic book t-shirts, combat boots and a flannel tied around his waist. After unsuccessfully pitching the character to Jim Cornette, the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), Raven approached Paul Heyman, the booker of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), who agreed to bring in Raven as a foil for Tommy Dreamer.