He signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling and started competing under the ring name Erick Rowan. He debuted on FCW TV debut in August 2011 when he defeated Kenneth Cameron. When FCW was rebranded into NXT Wrestling, he debuted on the December 12, 2012 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt, who introduced Rowan as his "second son".