5 Potential Opponents For Aleister Black

The main roster run for Aleister Black has been quite underwhelming so far. The man who was an NXT megastar for the majority of his time in the developmental brand was one of the most exciting potential main roster call ups at the time. But since his call up, Black has been scarcely used.

Black debuted on the main roster in February, teaming with fellow NXT star Ricochet. After a few months of himself and Ricochet challenging for the NXT and Raw Tag Team Titles and becoming one of the more exciting teams in all of WWE, Black went to Smackdown where he began taking part in mysterious vignettes where he begged for anyone to ‘knock on his door’. This led to a match with Cesaro at Extreme Rules, which was incredible. However since that match, Black has only competed against one other competitor, Shelton Benjamin.

With the vast amount of talent on the Smackdown Live roster alone, there are so many great matchups for Aleister Black. Here are five key superstars who could mesh well with the Amsterdam native.

 

5. Ali

The former 205 Live breakout has had an up and down main roster run so far. He went from a star of 205 Live, to an underdog character on Smackdown Live and now fighting back momentum in the King of the Ring tournament. Ali and Black have never faced off in the ring but have teamed up together in a six man tag alongside Ricochet.

A heel Black and a face Ali matchup would definitely bring the house down with a mixture of high flying and kickboxing action. Every match involving these two have turned out to be showstopping affairs so adding the two together in a big pay-per-view setting could add up to a potential five star matchup. Ali is great at rallying the crowd around him so he could take a great beating by the dangerous Aleister and mount a great comeback and the story just writes itself.

 

4. Buddy Murphy

Buddy Murphy has really started to prove his worth as a superstar who puts on quality matches night in and night out. After matches with Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, and Ali, Murphy has brought the crowd to their feet and potentially gained the respect and confidence of the backstage elite.

Black and Murphy have traded posts back and forth on Twitter and Instagram teasing a potential matchup. Doing something like having Murphy charge through the door to Black’s hidden room and taking a cheap shot is an easy and effective way to start a feud between them.

The two actually had some reported live event matches for NXT, their styles match up very well with both utlising an array of kicks and knee strikes. It’s almost criminal to not have such in-ring competitors take part in the competition every week, so why not stick them together and show how good each individual is in the ring?

 

3. Shinsuke Nakamura

Both Shinsuke Nakamura and Aleister Black are very fluent in the style of martial arts, more specifically in the art of kickboxing. Nakamura had a stint with professional Mixed Martial Arts while Black has a background in karate and kickboxing. They are two of the more “stiff” strikers in WWE and the raw physicality would really be something that mimics an MMA contest.

With the “King of Strong Style” being the current Intercontinental Champion, this could be a good stepping stone for Aleister to begin his ascension into the top of the mid-card scene. The IC Title’s last few holders have had a hard time gaining much traction holding the title, so a fresh face with an interesting gimmick could bring new life to the legendary belt.

Nakamura’s new manager Sami Zayn would also offer a great amount of promo jabs back and forth, so that the rivalry isn’t completely action based. Nakamura is still learning the English language so having the mouthpiece has really helped him focus on the in-ring part of his job. This really is an NXT alumni dream match in the making.

 

2. Andrade

With how WWE made the Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch relationship storyline into a forced together, overly announced ordeal, this rivalry could go a few ways. Obviously, Aleister Black is married to Andrade’s on camera manager, Zelina Vega. This hasn’t been talked about on television but if a rivalry ever started between Andrade and Aleister Black, it almost seems inevitable that it would come up at some point based on how real life couples have been portrayed in the world of WWE.

Andrade and Aleister Black are both very talented superstars who happen to have fantastic in-ring chemistry based on their time in NXT. They don’t need the love triangle storyline to make this work. In fact, with Black’s character portrayed how he is, dark and without much care, it wouldn’t make sense for him chasing after a woman because she’s managing someone else. Simply creating a similar story to their NXT rivalry would work great. Leave the kayfabe how it is and act as if Vega and Black have no relationship at all.

Both have grown from their time in NXT and could possibly put on even better matches than before by just keeping a simple story in place.

 

1. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan and Aleister Black have very similar personalities. Both came from the world of independent wrestling, practice the art of kickboxing, and separate themselves from the competition with their superior mic skills. Either wrestler could play the heel or face role and it would be difficult for the feud to not work in any situation. Bryan is thriving as a heel at the moment and Black is honestly undetermined on which side of the tracks he’s on.

These two have almost identical in-ring styles. Bryan may lean more towards a submission based style but both can literally kick someone’s head off their shoulders. Both also bring a certain amount of high flying abilities, such as the suicide dive and moonsault off the ropes. The promos would be an absolute battle between these two because they are both so aggressive on the mic.

These two actually faced off way back in 2010 for Westside Xtreme Wrestling. Since their time in WWE, there hasn’t been any contact at all between the two. A change in that could create a match of the year candidate given the right circumstances.