After passing a second physical, Lane signed with WWE in July 2018. Lane took part in that year's Mae Young Classic, defeating Vanessa Kraven in the first round and Taynara Conti in the second round, before being defeated by Meiko Satomura in the quarterfinals. In September 2019, Lane's ringname was changed to Kayden Carter. On the January 29, 2020 episode of "NXT", Carter had her first victory on television, defeating Chelsea Green. She was defeated in their rematch on the February 19 episode of "NXT". On the September 16 episode of "NXT", Carter teamed with Kacy Catanzaro in a winning effort against Jessi Kamea and Xia Li. The following week, she competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, but was eliminated by Raquel González. On the September 30 episode of "NXT", Carter fought with Li and defeated her, offering a hand after the match but was pushed to the mat instead.