He made his debut on October 24, 2012 on NXT house show teaming with Corey Graves. They defeated Trent Barretta and Adrian Neville. made his televised NXT debut on December 5, 2012 with the ring name Axl Keegan, in a loss to Bo Dallas. On the June 26, 2013 NXT, a renamed Mickey Keegan lost to Dallas again.
Keegan retired in late-2013 due to a neck injury, and now works as a consultant for NXT.