10 Wrestlers Who Will Be Back In WWE NXT Eventually
1. Derrick Bateman
Say what you will about TNA/Impact Wrestling taking WWE's scraps over the years; while Ethan Carter III is also an ex-WWE talent, they turned him into a homegrown star when WWE failed to.
Derrick Bateman was under contract to WWE for almost four years, competing in Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT, yet WWE did nothing of note with him whatsoever. Instead of fading off into obscurity upon his release in January 2013, he joined the rival promotion and rechristened himself as Ethan Carter III, the on-air nephew of Dixie Carter.
That instantly garnered him heat and already he was perceived as a star on the rise by fans. Over time, he embarked on a lengthy undefeated streak in singles competition, finally suffering his first loss in May 2016. That was over two and a half years removed from his debut in TNA.
In that time, he won the World title twice, honed his skills in the ring and on the mic and became one of the company's only success stories in recent years. Meanwhile, he has expressed interest in returning to NXT eventually, but only if the time is right.
You have to think WWE would snatch him up as soon as he's contractually free, and regardless of what they would call him, EC3 could be what he should have been on the black-and-yellow brand the first time around: a main event player.