Following the class, Bateman was invited to join a group of youth acrobats called the St. Louis Arches. When Bateman learned that he could get paid to do the thing he loved to do, he signed up right away. Because of the ridicule he faced from peers, however, Bateman decided to stick with acrobatics during the summer only.
El inicio de una pasión
Years later, weary of the dangerous lifestyle he had been leading, another visit to the circus helped change Bateman’s life. The future WWE star graduated high school and spent the following year training for the circus. Comparing the tryout for circus school to a WWE Performance Center tryout, Bateman said that he made it through the week-long process and heard back a month later that he had been accepted.
Los desafíos en el camino
“I get to Montreal — three-year program,” Bateman continued. “Struggles. Struggles, struggles, struggles. But … I wasn’t going back to St. Louis. And then, honestly, the rest is history.”
El salto a la WWE
After years as a circus acrobat, Bateman signed with WWE in 2020. Following onscreen partnerships with both Carmella and Dana Brooke, Bateman was sent to WWE NXT, where he would become Scrypts. The mysterious character’s identity was not officially revealed until Scrypts had his mask forcibly removed months into his tenure. Last year, Scrypts joined up with fellow wrestlers Bronco Nima and Lucien Price to form a new stable, which was eventually given the name Out The Mud.