Del Wilkes started out in the American Wrestling Association in 1988 under his real name for a year, before wrestling under the ring name “the Trooper.” He wrote his opponents tickets after beating them as part of his police gimmick. The Trooper won the AWA World Tag Team Championship with D.J. Peterson on August 11, 1990 at the final AWA television taping. They were the AWA's final World Tag Team Champions before it folded that year.