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Matthew Rehwoldt, formerly known as Aiden English, recently recalled how Vince McMahon once told him to stop rapping during his WWE entrances.
The former NXT Tag Team Champion used to sing before many of his on-screen appearances, most notably when he worked alongside Rusev in 2017-2018. Inspired by the musical Hamilton, he decided one day to implement hip-hop and rap lines in his WWE introductions before his usual operatic singing.
Speaking on D-Von Dudley’s Table Talk podcast, Rehwoldt said McMahon disliked his attempt to include rapping as part of his pre-match dialogue:
“I tried it and I kept doing it and nobody really said anything. Then just to show you the way it works sometimes, I did it for like a month straight and then finally I came back and Vince was like, ‘What the hell was that? Is he rapping?’ and it’s like, ‘He’s a singer. Tell him to sing again.’” [7:21-7:45]
Rehwoldt received his release in 2020 after eight years with the company. He worked as an in-ring competitor and a 205 Live commentator during that time.
How Matthew Rehwoldt’s musical WWE character succeeded
The 34-year-old also incorporated singing into his act as a singles competitor during his early days as the Aiden English character in NXT.
Asked by D-Von Dudley about his singing background, Rehwoldt claimed he is not as good as people might think:
“I’ve worked all of you. I am the definition of repetition and fake it till you make it. Maybe I’m just hard on myself. I’ll say this: I can carry a tune. I’ve played music my whole life… I can carry a tune. I am not a good singer. You’re gonna say, ‘No, no.’ Just because I can sit on a note and not be totally off key… doesn’t make me good.” [8:07-8:38]
Rehwoldt now works alongside Tom Hannifan, formerly known as Tom Phillips, as a commentator for IMPACT Wrestling. The former SmackDown star added that he would be willing to return to WWE one day, but only as an announcer.
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Please credit Table Talk and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
