On the December 1, 2009 episode of ECW on Syfy,Trent Barreta, along with Caylen Croft, debuted as villains, squashing a tag team. The duo would then feud with Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu, which culminated in a loss to Goldust and Tatsu in a match to determine the number one contenders to the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 9, 2010 episode of ECW. When the ECW brand ended in February 2010, its roster became free agents. Barreta and Croft signed with SmackDown, making their debut for the brand on February 19 in a losing effort against Cryme Tyme. Barreta and Croft would then feud with The Hart Dynasty, but could never manage a win against them. In April, they began using the team name of the Dudebusters. The Dudebusters then turned into fan favorites when they entered into a feud with the Gatecrashers (Curt Hawkins and Vance Archer) in August. The Dudebusters then earned their first tag team victory since joining the SmackDown roster when they defeated the Gatecrashers on the August 26 episode of Superstars.
On November 19, 2010, Caylen Croft was released from his contract, effectively ending The Dudebusters and turning Barreta into a singles competitor. After becoming a singles competitor, Barreta would largely be involved in lower-card feuds. During this period, a majority of his matches would be on Superstars, and when he appeared on SmackDown, he would almost always lose, only garnering a single win when appearing on SmackDown during his tenure in WWE. Barreta would continue to feud with Hawkins, whose partner Archer had also been released together with Croft. Both wrestlers would exchange wins in various matches on Superstars. Barreta would then feud with Drew McIntyre, even managing to earn an upset victory over McIntyre on the January 14, 2011 episode of SmackDown, his first singles win on the SmackDown brand since the breakup of The Dudebusters.
In 2011, Barreta would largely be used as enhancement talent, mostly competing on Superstars and losing to various wrestlers such as Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Tyler Reks, Ted DiBiase, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal. From April, Barreta would enter into a long rivalry with Tyson Kidd, but he found himself on the losing end in five singles matches against Kidd. However, Barreta managed a win over Kidd when he teamed with The Usos to beat Kidd, Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater on the June 30, 2011 episode of Superstars. Barreta finally defeated Kidd in a singles match on the August 23 episode of NXT, his first match on NXT.
In 2012, Barreta would exclusively wrestle on NXT, failing to wrestle on Raw or SmackDown. On NXT, Barreta formed an alliance with Yoshi Tatsu and from December 2011, they feuded with Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks; both teams managed to score one win apiece during the feud. Both teams would play pranks on each other, with Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks' hands being superglued onto a video game controller. During this feud, Barreta would score rare singles wins over both Hawkins and Reks on consecutive episodes of NXT in January 2012. The feud ended when Hawkins and Reks defeated Barreta and Tatsu on the January 18 episode of NXT. Barreta disappeared from television after February 2012 due to a torn triceps. A video package on the September 12, 2012 episode of NXT acknowledged Barreta's six-month absence, scheduling his return on the September 19 episode of NXT, where he defeated Johnny Curtis. After trading wins with Kassius Ohno, Barreta was injured by Leo Kruger before the third match in the series. On January 11, 2013, Barreta was released from his WWE contract; with his last televised match for WWE being a disqualification win over Kruger due to Ohno's interference on the January 16, 2013 episode of NXT, which was taped before his release.