6 Worst Handled Characters In WWE NXT History

3. Derrick Bateman

Before Derrick Bateman was announced to be a part of season 4 of NXT he had been in WWE developmental for 3 years. During that time he gained the respect of many main roster wrestlers, most of all John Cena was said to be a big fan of his work. In most cases the vote of confidence from the number one guy in the company leads to a long career. Just ask Brutus Beefcake, The Booty Man, The Man With No Name, The Zodiac & The Disciple. Ed Leslie the man who portrayed all those characters despite only the first being any kind of success if he was honest would tell you that riding coat tails can do a lot for you. His close friend Hulk Hogan opened dorrs for him wherever he went. In Bateman's case however when he was eliminated from season 4 & then NXT Redemption (The season that followed) his days were numbered. Less than a year later he was released from the company and shortly after he signed with TNA. In TNA he was rechristened Ethan Carter III and immediately became a major focus of their TV every week. This is the perfect example of one man's trash being another man's treasure. In TNA he has feuded with Sting, Bully Ray & Kurt Angle, some of the biggest stars that company has ever seen. He has quickly become one of the best promo men in the business. What he needed more than anything else was confidence. TNA has recently brought in Bobby Lashley, someone they clearly have high hopes for and his first feud was with none other than Ethan Carter III. With a roster with so few full time main event level acts WWE can't afford to miss out on someone as good as Carter has become. If their system was set up more to give confidence & less to require tenacity they may not have missed the boat.