Though still a heel, the crowd started getting more behind Abercrombie, and he soon split away from the Thomasellis and Kingston with his last interaction with them occurring on February 18 when he was forced to defend the title against Brandon, which he did. Abercrombie then reignited his feud with Tyler Black and on August 11, both took part in a "hair versus mustache match". In the weeks proceeding the match, Black grew a mustache of his own in mockery. Black would go on to win the match, but Abercrombie pointed out that a line in the contract for the match stipulated it was "his" hair versus Tyler's mustache. Abercrombie allowed Tyler to cut his hair, but when Black went for his mustache, Josh ran off, leaving him sporting a mullet.