Following his return from injury, Kidd began regularly appearing on NXT, which was now WWE's developmental branch. He began a winning streak within NXT in December 2013 including victories over Leo Kruger and Mason Ryan. On the May 1 episode of NXT, Kidd defeated Bo Dallas. On the May 8, 2014 episode of "NXT", Kidd participated in a 20-man battle royal for an NXT Championship shot, with him being involved in a three-way tie. As a result, Kidd faced the other two winners, Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn in a triple-threat match on the next episode of "NXT", where Kidd won to become #1 contender for a match at NXT TakeOver. At TakeOver, Kidd failed to win the title against Adrian Neville. On the June 12 episode of "NXT", Kidd faced Adrian Neville in a rematch for the NXT Title but failed to win the title after an accidental distraction from Natalya. On the June 19 episode of "NXT", Kidd teamed with Sami Zayn to challenge The Ascension for the NXT Tag Team Championship, they lost the match when Kidd walked out on Zayn in the middle of the match, turning heel in the process for the first time since 2012. At , Kidd competed in a Fatal 4-Way match for the NXT Championship, which was successfully retained by Adrian Neville.