On June 1, 2010, it was announced that Cannon would be participating in the second season of NXT, with Mark Henry as his mentor. He made his in-ring debut on the June 15 episode, teaming with Henry in a loss to Michael McGillicutty and Kofi Kingston. Following the match, another WWE Pro, Cody Rhodes, insulted Cannon, leading to the former accepting a challenge match against the latter for the following week. On the June 22 episode of NXT, Cannon lost a five-minute challenge match to Rhodes, being pinned after approximately four minutes. The following week, Cannon won the keg carry challenge, earning immunity from elimination. Later that night, Cannon teamed with McGillicutty and Kaval against Alex Riley, Eli Cottonwood and Titus O'Neil, which his team won when Kaval pinned Riley, giving Cannon his first win on NXT, and he was ranked fifth on the NXT poll. He retained his fifth-place ranking in the next poll on July 27. On August 9, the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on Raw, in which Cannon teamed with Kaval and Percy Watson in a loss to McGillicutty, Husky Harris and Alex Riley. The next night on NXT, Cannon's team won a rematch. Later that night, Cannon was eliminated from the competition when his ranking slipped to sixth. Cannon returned for the season finale of NXT on August 31, where he and the other eliminated rookies attacked the winner Kaval.
In March 2011, Cannon was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, and he received Tyson Kidd as his new Pro. During this season of NXT, Cannon had changed his character to that of a flamboyant and arrogant villain; instead of participating in the challenges to earn points, Cannon turned his attentions to wooing Maryse, NXT's co-host, causing a feud between himself and Yoshi Tatsu, who was also vying for Maryse's affections. Cannon managed to get Maryse's acceptance after he bought her a purse. On the June 14 episode of NXT, Cannon was eliminated from the competition, and Maryse heaped further misery by dumping Cannon after she realised that the purse he bought for her was a fake.
On August 8, 2011, Cannon was released from his WWE contract.