Swann made his debut at an NXT house show on October 30, wrestling in an intergender Halloween battle royal, which was won by Bayley. Swann made his singles match debut at a house show on November 20, losing to Riddick Moss. He made his first televised appearance on the January 20, 2016, episode of NXT, losing to Baron Corbin. On the March 23 episode of NXT, Swann was defeated by NXT Champion Finn Bálor. On June 13, Swann was announced as a participant in the upcoming Cruiserweight Classic tournament. The tournament kicked off on June 23 with Swann defeating Jason Lee in his first round match. On July 14, Swann defeated Lince Dorado in his second round match. On August 26, Swann was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals by T.J. Perkins.
On the August 22, 2016, episode of Raw, Swann was announced as part of the upcoming cruiserweight division. Swann made his Raw debut on September 19, wrestling in a four-way match, which was won by Brian Kendrick and also included Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik. On the November 21 Raw, Swann defeated Noam Dar and T.J. Perkins to earn a shot at Brian Kendrick's WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the premiere episode of 205 Live. On November 29, Swann defeated Brian Kendrick on the premiere episode of 205 Live to become the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion. The following week, Swann defeated Kendrick in a rematch to retain the title, following a distraction from Perkins. On December 18 at Roadblock: End of the Line, Swann successfully defended the title in a three-way match against Kendrick and Perkins, pinning the latter to win the match. After the match, Swann and Perkins were attacked by a returning Neville.