9 Current TNA Talent That Were In WWE NXT

6. Ethan Carter III

Derrick Bateman
WWE.com

Derrick Bateman was a part of the same season of NXT as the aforementioned Brodus Clay. In fact, he was reportedly slated to win the whole thing in his home state of Ohio before an injury forced him to leave the competition. Despite that, officials were high on him and decided to bring him back for the following season, which was entitled "Redemption."

Bateman never ended up getting to the main roster, but he did some excellent work on the show with Johnny Curtis and Maxine. He had a few matches in the rebooted version of NXT in 2012 before getting cut from his contract in 2013.

His WWE release was the best thing that could have happened to him, however, and TNA made a star out of him the moment he arrived on the scene later that year. He embarked on an unprecedented two and a half year undefeated streak in singles competition and has held the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, headlining the last two Bound for Glory pay-per-views.

If WWE were to acquire anyone from the current TNA roster, EC3 would be a great fit for NXT. But with his current gimmick, not as Derrick Bateman, of course.

Contributor
Contributor

Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.