Baszler made her NXT debut at a house show on August 10, 2017, where she teamed with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce; they faced the team of Kairi Sane, Aliyah, and Dakota Kai in a losing effort. On August 12, she made her singles debut, defeating Zeda. On October 3, WWE officially announced that Baszler had signed with the company and started training at the WWE Performance Center. On the December 6 episode of "NXT", a vignette aired teasing Baszler's televised debut. She made her televised debut by attacking Kairi Sane on December 27, and her televised in-ring debut on the episode aired January 10, 2018, defeating Dakota Kai by referee stoppage. Afterward, Baszler continued to attack Kai until NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon made the save. That led to a title match at on January 27, where Moon defeated Baszler to retain the title, but was attacked by Baszler afterwards. Baszler received another title match against Moon at on April 7, where Baszler defeated Moon by technical submission to win the title.