Verne Gagne altered Beyer's Destroyer gimmick slightly by choosing to bill Dick as the masked Doctor X. Gagne's reasoning for the name change was one of the wrestling magazines had mentioned Beyer was indeed the Destroyer. Doctor X debuted in the AWA during early August of 1967 by sitting at ringside watching the televised matches. The announcers referred to him as the Masked Man. Beyer continued to sit at ringside for a few more weeks before getting involved in the action. In his first ring action as Doctor X on August 19th, 1967, Dick Beyer jumped into the ring and inteferred in a televised match between Verne Gagne and Jack Pesek. Beyer injured Verne making Gagne miss a scheduled match against Johnny Powers to have taken place later that night in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gagne sold the beating from Doctor X for a few weeks not competing again until September 9th. Beyer instantly became the most hated man in the AWA and began battling many of the promotion's top stars including Wilbur Snyder, Mighty Igor Vodik, The Crusher, Dick the Bruiser, Bill Watts and Chris Markoff.

As Doctor X, Dick Beyer used the same heel tactics that made him successful as the Destroyer. Dick stated on his interviews he would unmask if he lost two falls by pinfall or submission in a two out of three fall match. This offer by Doctor X allowed him to lose a match but not be unmasked. For example, Beyer could lose a one fall bout, or lose by disqualification or countout and still keep his mask. In other words, he could lose the match and still keep his heat. 

Beyer also offered 10,000 dollars to any wrestler who could get out of his figure four leg lock. When applying the figure four leg lock to an opponent, Doctor X would slap both his arms backwards on the mat to give fans the idea he was putting the most possible pressure on his opponent. 

After gaining a submission via the figure four leg lock, Beyer would not break the hold saying his legs were so intertwined with his opponent, it was impossible for him to break the hold. Instead, Doctor X would make the referee disentangle his legs from his opponent.

The feud between Doctor X and Gagne continued throughout 1968 in virtually every town on the AWA circuit. Fans despised Doctor X so much they chanted "Quack Quack" at Beyer every chance they got and longed for the night Verne would remove Doctor X's mask or break out of Beyer's vaunted figure four leg lock. Doctor X gained the upper hand in the feud when defeated Verne Gagne on August 17th, 1968 in Bloomington, Minnesota to capture the AWA World's Heavyweight Championship. Beyer's reign was a short one as Verne regained the belt two weeks later in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Doctor X would receive several more title shots against Gagne but was never again able to beat him.

Verne Gagne's title victory over Doctor X signaled a change in the AWA.  Gagne was in his early forties and wanted to wrestle less frequently than in the past. The thinking was if AWA title defenses were scaled back and were viewed as a special occurrence, fans would turn out in droves when Gagne did defend the AWA title. The AWA put more emphasis on the AWA tag team titles as the focus of the promotion with the AWA heavyweight title defenses being saved for the really big house shows.

Gagne would wrestle in the AWA cities occasionally defending the belt against a wrestler who had amassed a winning streak over a long period of time. This new philosophy allowed Gagne to defend the AWA belt against both heels and babyfaces. When defending against a heel like Blackjack Lanza or Mad Dog Vachon, Gagne would do what he always had done, play the babyface champion role. But when Verne defended the AWA belt against a babyface like Cowboy Bill Watts, Red Bastien or Billy Red Lyons, Gagne would play the subtle heel role by doing whatever it took to hold onto the AWA title.