WWE Superstar Aleister Black credits surprising influence for success in his career [Exclusive]

He may fly the flag for the Netherlands in WWE, Aleister Black admits he has the UK to thank for much of his early success.

Amsterdam-born Black made an impressive and hotly-anticipated debut for WWE on their NXT brand in 2017, and is now a regular feature on Monday Night RAW.

Black already had a substantial fanbase on these shores for his work in the UK independent wrestling scene under the name of Tommy End.

There, working with the likes of Trent Seven, Tyler Bate, and many others, Black honed his skills for the better part of five years – becoming a tag-team champion in ICW and Progress Wrestling among others.

So there’s little surprise that many in the UK consider him to be something of an honorary Brit. In an interview with me reflecting on the formative years of his career, he paid tribute to the role the country has played in his career to-date:

“The UK has played a huge part in where I’m at now.

“I couldn’t discredit any promoter anywhere in the world that I’ve worked with for not helping me out, but I think the last five or six years spent in the UK while the Indy scene was growing has helped me tremendously as a performer to stand out.

“It gave me a platform to develop certain aspects of the character I wanted to play because so many promoters had so much faith in me and to work with me; they’d say, ‘go nuts, show us what you can do.’

“They were willing to work with me, so the UK really gave me an edge to define my style and develop my character to the point where WWE started noticing me.

“The country played a huge part in my development and discovery.”

As ever, thanks to WWE for the opportunity to discuss topics with talent - over in the UK, WWE is in the midst of its first week on a new home in BT Sport, where you'll find RAW, SmackDown, NXT and all pay per views.