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What’s the story?
During his recent conversation with WWE veterans Edge and Christian on the E&C Pod of Awesomeness, reigning NXT Champion Tom Budgen aka Aleister Black revealed the mastermind behind his current WWE stage name and which superstar from the current WWE roster he wants to work against.
In case you didn’t know…
Previously being billed as Tommy End during his days on the independent circuit, Aleister Black has already built the reputation of being one of the best in-ring competitors of all time, thanks to his work with several promotions such as wXw, PROGRESS Wrestling, ICW, Evolve Wrestling and more.
In 2016, Black signed for the WWE and immediately started competing under the company’s developmental brand of NXT, where the former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion went on to defeat some of NXT’s biggest notable names in the likes of Killian Dain, Adam Cole, The Velveteen Dream, Hideo Itami, Kassius Ohno and more.
Also, earlier this month, Aleister Black captured the NXT Title from Andrade “Cien” Almas for the very first time in his pro wrestling career.
The heart of the matter
While speaking with Edge and Christian on their E&C Pod of Awesomeness podcast, Aleister Black discussed a myriad of topics and below are the highlights from the interview: (H/T: WrestlingInc)
On which WWE star pitched the Aleister Black name:
According to Black, his current stage name in the WWE was an initial collaboration between him and NXT Senior Producer Triple H, who apparently followed up with his sharp mind on Black’s pitched ideas for a potential WWE stage name and the two eventually came up with the Aleister Black name.
"The name was kind of a collaboration between me and Triple H." Black explained, "I think when I originally started pitching some ideas, he was seeing where I was going with it. And I think Triple H has a really sharp mind for these kinds of things and he was like, 'well, what do you think about Aleister Black?' And I was like, 'that sounds great - that sounds amazing.'"
His current dream opponent from the WWE roster:
Black noted that as of right now, having a potential one-on-one match against former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor has been on his mind for a very long time and also praised the Irish superstar by labeling him as a “unique” in-ring performer.
"That’s definitely something that has been on my mind for sure because I think the contrast yet similarities are fantastic and that guy, his wrestling ability is on a different level. He is truly unique."
What’s next?
Now that Aleister Black has captured the WWE NXT Title, “The Dutch Destroyer” will now look forward to dominating the entire NXT roster and defend his NXT Championship with pride.
Author’s take
A potential match between Aleister Black and Finn Balor will definitely be off the charts and let us hope that we do get to see Black and Balor cross paths in the WWE sometime in the future.
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