So what's the truth? Is he Carter? Is he Bateman? How did the nephew of the TNA President hide in plain sight amongst the developmental drudge of the WWE roster? And why would they send him there?
Well, the why is pretty simple. WWE is the biggest pro wrestling company in the world. Working in front of TV cameras, establishing a personality, learning the politics of the business, it's all valuable experience that he could use when he was finally ready to take his rightful place on the throne of TNA. As for how they got him to sneak through past the system? Well, the Carter family has money and connections. It's entirely plausible that they used that to get a whole fake identification scheme created for him so he could pass himself under a name that Vince wouldn't recognize. There would be no reason to even hint at being a Carter.
But why would Dixie take that chance? What if Ethan made it big in WWE and decided to stay?
See, that's the thing. High chance was he wouldn't. Very few people that go through that company actually become lasting stars there, as is true of any premiere organization in any industry. Ethan was good, but they didn't think the somewhat mundane Derrick Bateman would catch management's eye enough to become a breakthrough act.
But then came the advent of the rookie competition challenge called NXT. And Derrick found himself becoming heralded as one of the better competitors in the fourth challenge, potentially on the verge of winning. On top of that, he was being backed up by none other than Bryan Danielson, and the outlandish personality he'd crafted as an understudy to put off Danielson actually helped endear him to both Bryan and to the fans.
Ethan hadn't learned everything he needed to learn yet, but while NXT was a valuable tool to push along his experience process, it was also hastening but his push to make the choice between a chance at WWE stardom and his TNA destiny. But whatever he did, he had to do it without letting WWE know what he was up to. However, he soon realized that even if he doesn't win NXT, he's still part of the developmental roster. So the Friend-or-Idol Decision could be put on hold after all. With that in mind, what was his solution? He held himself back under the guise of an injury hindering his performances, and as a result, got himself eliminated in third place, just before the final two.
With this, he figured he could lay low for awhile, then go back to FCW safe and sound. But once he came back, he was inserted into the "Redemption" fifth season of NXT, with Bryan once again his pro. However, there was something different about this season: the eliminations didn't start coming until week 11, as WWE seemingly were unsure what they were doing with the guys they were bringing in for the show. And he wasn't brought in from the start, but rather inserted midway in as a replacement for one of the eliminated contestants. Realizing there would be more room to breathe and figure things out with this version of NXT for some reason, he turned up the outlandishness and even did a little bit of villainy, finally putting Bryan off from working with him.
By then he'd made his choice to stick the original plan of using WWE to groom himself for TNA. So he put himself under the thumb of the shrewish Catrina Maxine Perez as a henpecked boyfriend just to be sure he put something in his own way. This decision paid off: slowly but surely the rookie competition format was dissolved as WWE treated NXT like a regular C-show instead. So Ethan could afford to goof off and be an ineffectual loon as Bateman. Unfortunately, he started to warm up to some of the more babyface members of NXT's makeshift roster, as well as get absolutely sick of the antics of Maxine as well as her perverted suitor Johnny Curtis. Luckily, those friends gave him an out when it turned out Kaitlyn was interested in him, an option which he cleverly assessed through portraying himself as an Insecure Love Interest, then heartily took up once she confirmed it with The Big Damn Kiss. Not only did he enjoy Kaitlyn's company a lot more, it was a great opportunity to show up Maxine and Curtis out of spite.
Eventually, NXT began to change again. In the transition from the C-show to the new developmental brand, things became more streamlined and professional. Which meant no more fun with Kaitlyn, sure, but he was oddly at peace with that. He cut his hair short, declared a change in himself, and started testing out new entrance poses, while facing guys he'd never given any indication he could actually take and of course jobbing to them. Then people backstagenote decided they didn't like him, so he was finally let go.
But that fit right into his plan. The sudden metamorphosis at the end of his WWE career was never meant for WWE. It was a peek into his true self. Ethan Carter III was getting ready to finally embark on his epic journey through TNA, having every tool in his shed sharpened and knowing exactly what to do and what not to dohint to ascend to his rightful place at the summit and become Wrestling's Greatest Hero.
And what an epic journey it has been.
