Carter's NXT television debut took place on the July 4, 2012 episode, taped at Full Sail University, where he and Corey Graves defeated CJ Parker and Nick Rogers. After a quiet dissociation from Graves, Carter would find himself winless in televised NXT matches, which even saw Graves himself defeating Carter on the January 23, 2013 episode of NXT. Carter returned to NXT on May 30, 2013, where Carter and Brandon Traven faced Garrett Dylan and Scott Dawson in a losing effort. On the June 19 episode of NXT, Carter faced Xavier Woods in a losing effort. On the September 12, 2013 episode of NXT, Carter faced Tensai in a losing effort, which turned out to be his final match with WWE.