On 12 April 2016, Dabba-Kato joined the WWE Performance Center as part of a new class of recruits. He made his debut at a NXT house show in Orlando, Florida on September 30, 2016, under the name Babatunde, and competing in a battle royal. In April 2018, Babatunde started to accompany Lio Rush to the ring at NXT live events until Rush was called up to the main roster as part of 205 Live. Babatunde made his televised debut on April 27 at the Greatest Royal Rumble, entering the match as the thirty-seventh entrant and being eliminated by Braun Strowman.
On August 3, 2020, Babatunde would make his return to television and his Raw debut. He would debut as part of a Raw Underground segment under the ring name Dabba-Kato. He would develop a winning streak on Raw Underground, defeating several local wrestlers until he was defeated by Braun Strowman on the September 21 episode of Raw. As part of the 2020 draft in October, Dabba-Kato was officially drafted to the Raw brand, although he never made another appearance for the brand following the draft.
On night two of WrestleMania 37, Dabba-Kato returned and helped Apollo Crews win the Intercontinental Championship from Big E. Crews would then re-introduce Dabba-Kato as Commander Azeez the following Friday on SmackDown, with no mention made of his previous time as Dabba-Kato on Raw, thus transferring to the SmackDown brand. As part of the 2021 Draft, both Crews and Azeez were drafted to the Raw brand. On the March 14, 2022 Raw, Azeez lost to Omos.
After a long hiatus from television, Azeez returned to the NXT Brand on February 4, 2023, at NXT Vengeance Day, where he returned using his Dabba-Kato name and attacked Apollo Crews following a two-out-of-three falls match against Carmelo Hayes. On September 21, Dabba-Kato was released from his WWE contract.