5 WWE NXT Rookies Who Needed The Modern Format

5. Derrick Bateman

774859

Derrick Bateman may well go down as one of WWE’s biggest misses of the modern era. He has the look, the size, the charisma, the ability and everything else that is seemingly desired for someone to be a WWE superstar, yet creative seemingly never had anything for him. He even did the hard work for them and came up with his USA Guy character (complete with hilarious vignette). Impact Wrestling has been something of a dud for a while now, but Bateman’s performances (or EC3 as he is known in TNA) have been a revelation. In WWE he mostly played the comedic yet serious babyface, but as the entitled, smarmy rich heel he has been the highlight of that show for some time now.

Bateman first appeared on NXT Season Four with Daniel Bryan as his pro. Their partnership was one of the only highlights of the season, and it was something of a surprise when Bateman didn’t finish the season on top. This was even more surprising considering the prize was a tag team title shot with their pro, and Bateman and Bryan were the only combination with anything approaching chemistry.

How would Bateman’s WWE career have panned out if he had been introduced into today’s NXT, possibly even with his USA Guy gimmick? A performer of such talent and ability almost seems tailor made for the show, and he would surely have been taken in close to the hearts of the Full Sail University crowd.