In 2010, after he competed on NXT under the ring name Michael McGillicutty, he debuted on WWE's main roster as part of The Nexus.

[7] He graduated from North Hennepin Community College with an Associates of Science degree in business computer systems and management.

[10] On September 11, 2008, Hennig and Sebastian Slater defeated Nic Nemeth and Gavin Spears to win the Florida Tag Team Championship.

[11] On October 30, Hennig and Slater lost the Tag Team Championship to The New Hart Foundation (DH Smith and TJ Wilson).

[16] On January 14, 2010, The Fortunate Sons won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship by defeating The Dudebusters (Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta).

[25] He made his in-ring debut on the following edition of NXT, teaming with Kingston to defeat Mark Henry and Lucky Cannon.

[35] On the following day's episode of Raw, McGillicutty and Harris' identities were revealed, though Barrett claimed he had not asked for their help and refused to make them full-time members of The Nexus.

[36] The following week on Raw, McGillicutty and Harris cost Cena a match against The Miz, prompting Barrett to give them the opportunity to win membership in The Nexus.

[37] On the October 18 episode of Raw, McGillicutty and Harris failed to earn a place in The Nexus when they lost to Cena and Randy Orton in a tag team match.

[41] McGillicutty returned on the April 11 episode of Raw with the other Nexus members, preventing Orton from earning a WWE Championship match.

[47][48] On the August 22 episode of Raw, McGillicutty and Otunga lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston), ending their reign at 91 days.

[50][51][52] On the October 20 episode of Superstars, McGillicutty and Drew McIntyre lost a non-title match to the WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom.

[56] In February, McGillicutty mocked Tyson Kidd's lack of wrestling heritage, starting a feud on NXT Redemption.

[75] On the February 6 episode of NXT, McGillicutty and Dallas were eliminated in the semi-finals, when they lost to The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan).

[78] Over the next two weeks on Raw, Axel scored back-to-back non-title count-out wins over WWE Champion John Cena, due to distractions and interference by Ryback.

[86] Axel suffered his first loss since becoming Heyman's client on the July 8 episode of Raw, when he was pinned by Chris Jericho in a non-title match.

[87] At Money in the Bank, Axel defeated The Miz to retain the Intercontinental Championship, and later that night, Heyman turned on CM Punk.

[96] On the December 6 episode of SmackDown, Axel and Ryback defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match, earning themselves a shot at the title.

[99] Axel and Ryback would continue their brief feud with Cody Rhodes and Goldust from earlier in the year at Payback[100] which they won, before losing the rematch at Money in the Bank.

[103] As a result of not being eliminated (having never officially entered the match), Axel trended on Twitter following the event,[104][105][106] and also received supportive tweets from former WWE wrestlers Lance Storm[107] and Tommy Dreamer[108] and then later from current WWE wrestlers Xavier Woods,[109] Zack Ryder,[110] and David Otunga, the latter offering his legal services.

[118] On the May 11 episode of Raw, Axel turned face when he shook hands with Damien Sandow (who was impersonating Randy Savage as "Macho Mandow"), similar to the handshake of The Mega Powers, when they formed a tag team.

[121][125] Axel and Sandow ceased their AxelMania and Macho Mandow imitations on July 24, after WWE fired Hulk Hogan and severed all ties with him.

[139] At WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017, Axel participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Mojo Rawley.

[140] On the June 19 episode of Raw, Intercontinental Champion The Miz approached Axel and Bo Dallas, offering to make them "the stars [they] deserve to be" if they become his entourage, and later that night, Axel and Dallas appeared in bear costumes during an in ring segment between Miz and his wife Maryse, attacking Dean Ambrose, thus turning heel once again.

[151] At Extreme Rules, The B-Team defeated Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy to win the Raw Tag Team Championship.

[154] On the September 3 episode of Raw, The B-Team lost the championships to Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, ending their reign at 50 days.

[156] At WrestleMania 35 on April 7, 2019, Axel competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win the match.

[159] On April 30, he was released from his WWE contract due to budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, ending his 13-year tenure with the company.

[161][162] On the May 30, 2022, episode of Raw, Hennig was seen as a security team member, breaking up the brawl between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.

He also makes regular appearances on fellow WWE wrestler Xavier Woods's YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, under the nickname "Cold Beer".