Curtis Axel was part of the second season of NXT, named as Michael McGillicutty and paired with Kofi Kingston.
Axel, who is the son of Curt Hennig, ended up being eliminated in the final week of the competition. The second season was won by Kaval (Low Ki).
"NXT, in my era, was a disaster," Axel said on Monte & The Pharaoh. "They would do crap to us to make us look like crap. It was a shame. It was a shame to all of us. All of us that worked hard like Bray (Wyatt), all these guys worked their asses off. I wanted to get to the WWE main roster. I wanted to do it so bad, but they shit on us. When I found out that Kofi Kingston was on TV and he said, ‘Here’s my pro, son of Mr. Perfect, Michael McGuility.’ I’m like, ‘Fuck this bullshit.’ I lost my mind, but I just went with it. I went through it because I have a family. I argued, argued, argued and all this kind of stuff. I just kept going through and kept on performing. I did everything I could. Finally, I lost my mind. I said, ‘Dude, I’m done.’ That’s when Curtis Axel evolved."
McGuillicutty became Axel in May 2013.
Axel has not wrestled since February 2020 when he faced Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson in AEW).
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