Ranking The Success Of Every WWE Star To Debut In The Crowd At NXT TakeOver

Derrick Bateman was released from WWE in January 2013 after spinning his wheels down in developmental for several years. It didn't take him long at all to land on his feet, because in October 2013, he signed with IMPACT Wrestling and rechristened himself as EC3.

Say what you will about IMPACT, but they did an exceptional job of building up EC3 to be the face of their company for a considerable stretch of time. By the onset of 2018, he had outgrown IMPACT and was ready for new challenges. WWE just so happened to be interested in bringing him in soon after, and at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, his signing was confirmed when he was shown sitting ringside.

EC3 didn't officially debut for NXT until TakeOver: New Orleans, where he took part in an insane six-man Ladder match to crown the first-ever North American champion. He came up short that evening but continued to impress in the months that followed against Kassius Ohno, Johnny Gargano, Velveteen Dream, Lars Sullivan and Adam Cole.

Before The Top One Percent could clinch gold on the black-and-gold brand, he was called up abruptly to the main roster at the start of the new year. He quickly fizzled out and has been a mainstay on WWE's D-show Main Event ever since.

There's still time for him to rebound, though, assuming WWE has interest in ever pushing him again.