Watson participated in the second season of NXT, with Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) as his mentor. Watson made his debut on the June 8, 2010 episode of NXT with the nickname "Showtime" Percy Watson, teaming with MVP and defeating Husky Harris and Cody Rhodes. Watson was noted for being fun, energetic and similar to Eddie Murphy. As part of his gimmick, Watson wore red glasses and even wrestled with his glasses on.
In the NXT poll on the June 29 episode, Watson was ranked in second place, just behind Kaval. On July 6, Watson won the Talk-the-Talk challenge and is rewarded with the chance to host a talk show the following week. In his talk show segment, Watson had his Pro MVP as his talk show guest. However, in order to make a statement, Watson tried to set up MVP to receive an attack from the other Rookies, but the other Pros came to MVP's aid. On the July 20 episode of NXT, Watson was a guest on MVP'S VIP Lounge, where he was confronted by MVP about his actions the previous week. The two made amends after a heartfelt apology from Watson. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Watson became the first Rookie to defeat a Pro in a singles match by defeating Zack Ryder. On the August 17 episode of NXT, Watson was eliminated from the show, finishing fifth overall.
After Season 2 of NXT, Watson then competed in various dark matches but never appeared on WWE programming. In the dark matches, he faced other wrestlers like Primo, Tyson Kidd, Curt Hawkins, Chavo Guerrero, Tyler Reks, and Drew McIntyre.
Watson returned on WWE programming on the September 8 episode of WWE Superstars without glasses and with a more toned-down gimmick, teaming with Titus O'Neil in a losing effort against Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. He then redebuted on the fifth season of NXT not as a Rookie, but as Titus O'Neil's friend and tag team partner. Watson and O'Neil would enjoy success against Derrick Bateman and Tyson Kidd, as well as Bateman and JTG. However, Watson and O'Neil would find themselves unable to beat Darren Young and JTG. Watson would also compete as a singles competitor on NXT, earning wins against the likes of Tyler Reks and Heath Slater.
After O'Neil turned his back on the fans, he urged Watson to do the same on the January 25, 2012 episode of NXT. When Watson refused, O'Neil shoved him and a match between the two was booked, leading to O'Neil defeating Watson. O'Neil continued to attack Watson after the match, leading to Alex Riley saving Watson. On the February 1 and February 29 episodes of NXT, Watson and Riley teamed up to face O'Neil and Young, but were defeated both times. On the March 7 episode of NXT, Watson received his rematch against O'Neil and defeated O'Neil. From late April, Watson was involved in a storyline in which he was blamed for various backstage attacks on other wrestlers, but the storyline was abruptly dropped as NXT Redemption drew to a close. Percy Watson was then seen dancing with Brodus Clay and the other superstars backstage at the July 3rd edition of Super Smackdown "The Great American Bash". He returned to the all new NXT Season 6 on July 18th losing to Jinder Mahal. It would be the start of a losing streak for Watson, who went on to lose to the likes of Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger in 2012. Watson then formed an occasional team with Yoshi Tatsu, but they could find no success either; losing to the Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron) on the November 14, 2012 episode of NXT. On the January 23, 2013 episode of NXT, Watson and Tatsu entered a tournament to crown the first NXT Tag Team Champions, but were defeated by the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) in the first round. On May 17, 2013, Watson was released.
On November 30, 2016, at the NXT taping, Watson returned as the third man in the broadcast booth, joining Tom Phillips and Corey Graves.