5 most likely first opponents for EC3 in NXT
January was a big signing month for WWE- they picked up Candice LeRae (who seamlessly entered the Johnny Gargano/Andrade "Cien" Almas storyline, by the way), War Machine, and even Ricochet. But perhaps the biggest signing of all was that of EC3.
EC3 began his WWE career in 2009, as a bland-yet-promising babyface called Derrick Bateman. While he was never given anything particularly interesting to do, he had a good look and carried himself well. When he signed on with TNA following his WWE release in 2013, he developed into one of the more compelling characters in professional wrestling.
For nearly five years, Ethan Carter III was a bonafide "top guy" for TNA, winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice and the Impact Grand Championship once. Meanwhile, WWE fans were hankering to see the once-vanilla superstar join the already-stacked NXT roster. Luckily, their prayers were answered on January 27th, when it was confirmed that EC3 was back with WWE, surprisingly maintaining the name he used in TNA Impact.
...so now what?
Well, as I said before, the NXT roster is absolutely stacked right now, perhaps more so than ever. As such, there are plenty of directions that they can go in. Here are five potential superstars, in no particular order, that I think EC3 could face upon his debut.
#5 Drew McIntyre
Now, of all the options I'm about to go over, this one is probably the least likely, as I think that Drew McIntyre will re-enter the NXT Championship picture upon his return. Nevertheless, it's still a possibility.
For those who don't know, EC3's first ever match in WWE developmental was in 2009, against none other than Drew McIntyre. Of course, it was McIntyre who came out victorious, as EC3 (wrestling under his real name at the time) was yet to be established. If WWE wants to dig that deeply, perhaps they could weave that into the narrative.
Otherwise, maybe we can see a McIntyre return and an EC3 debut in the same night. Drew could come out, give his spiel about how he's owed a Championship match, then out comes EC3 to say something on the lines of, "well you're going to have to get through me because I'm going straight to the top". Simple, yet effective.
Or, if they want to be super meta, they can build a storyline about how both of them were underutilized in their initial WWE runs, but they both want to prove that they belong there. Or maybe they could talk about how they feuded "elsewhere," but they want to beat each other on a grander stage.
Whatever they choose to do, I think that feuding with McIntyre would be a good start for EC3.