Strong made his NXT debut on the October 19, 2016 episode of NXT as Austin Aries' partner in the second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, defeating Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight. On October 25, 2016, WWE officially announced Strong as part of the latest group of recruits joining the WWE Performance Center. On the December 14 episode of NXT, Strong defeated Elias Samson, in doing so getting himself entered into a fatal four-way match to determine a new number one contender for the NXT Championship as well as establishing himself as a fan favorite. Strong competed in the fatal-four way on the December 21 episode of NXT, but was unsuccessful. Strong defeated Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio in his first TakeOver appearance.
