Aleister Black will have his first ever main roster Pay-Per-View singles match at Extreme Rules when he takes on veteran performer Cesaro. That inevitable barnburner should leave fans intrigued for the former NXT Champion’s opponent at WWE SummerSlam 2019.
The second biggest wrestling show of the year, WWE SummerSlam 2019 will take place on Aug. 11 in Toronto, whose fans are well known for their ability to add something unique to the show’s environment. They’ll undoubtedly take well to Aleister Black, who has become quite the fan favorite since debuting in NXT in 2016 after being known as “Tommy End” on the independent scene.
With his piercing promos, sharp gaze and incisive kicks, Black has become one of WWE’s fastest rising stars. No longer in NXT, Black’s skills will be tested to another level on the crowded main roster, but he’s already had fans on the edge of their seats with his “moody promos,” as Fightful.com’s Sean Ross Sapp terms them.
He’ll surely gain more admirers with his match against Cesaro at Extreme Rules, as “The Swiss Cyborg” has been one of WWE’s best pure in-ring performers and athletes over the past decade. Black is no slouch as an athlete either, so this should be a classic.
It should also leave us begging to see more of Black in the ring, and while it won’t be easy to get on the SummerSlam card, a wrestler with Black’s potential shouldn’t be counted out. Here are five possible opponents for the man with one of the greatest theme songs in wrestling.
The Undertaker
Let’s start with a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime match that probably isn’t going to happen but could actually happen. Like, what’s harder to believe, The Undertaker tagging with Roman Reigns as “The Graveyard Dogs” against Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules or Taker putting on a fun SummerSlam match in the mid card with a rising star?
OK, that’s what I thought.
Black vs. Undertaker has been pretty much a mainstay on fantasy-booked “Future WrestleMania” cards, but maybe it’s better to have this match at SummerSlam where there’s even less pressure on The Undertaker. He can relax, not try to do too much, and focus on wrestling a striker vs. a power guy like Goldberg where he could be badly exposed.
There’s the opportunity to give Black a massive rub with his rivalry, and he’s one of the guys in WWE who could truly benefit from a series of promos with The Undertaker. Since most of his matches are of the fast-paced variety, such as his classic with Andrade for the NXT Championship or his Match of the Year candidate with Johnny Gargano months later, it’d be a nice change of pace to see him show his skills against a completely different kind of opponent in The Undertaker.
This match would be about much more than the quality of the bout itself, but maybe that could even surprise the fans in attendance.
Ricochet
Because of Tommaso Ciampa’s heartbreaking neck injury, WWE needed to find a replacement tag team among the NXT call-ups to fill in for DIY (comprised of Johnny Gargano and Ciampa). They found a diamond-in-the-rough tag team in Ricochet and Aleister Black, who both worked together perfectly as if they’d been tag teaming for years. Everything they did was synchronized beautifully, from their dives to the outside to their trademark poses afterwards.
Black and Ricochet never won the titles together, but they gave the NXT, Raw, and SmackDown champions a run for their money with great match after great match. For months, they were among WWE’s biggest workhorses, even pulling double-duty over WrestleMania weekend with great matches at NXT TakeOver: New York and ‘Mania 35.
A fun, one-off singles match between the two of them could be in order, and it would be interesting to see which man comes out on top. Friendly rivalries aren’t done nearly enough in WWE, as this would be a chance for two competitors who clearly respect each other to go head-to-head. Ricochet heads into Extreme Rules as the United States Champion, so there’s even a chance this hypothetical WWE SummerSlam 2019 match would have a title on the line. A great match between Ricochet and Black could do wonders for the prestige of the US Title.
Drew McIntyre
Andrade beat Drew McIntyre for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: WarGames, and, months later, Aleister Black was the one to conquer Andrade at TakeOver: New Orleans over WrestleMania 34 Weekend. But WWE fans have yet to see McIntyre and Black face each other in any venue.
Now, Black and McIntyre have shared a ring together. They were both in the 2019 Royal Rumble, and they have tagged together in NXT at various live events back when McIntyre was a babyface with WWE’s “Third Brand”.
However, McIntyre has now gone full heel since debuting on the main roster on the Raw after WrestleMania 34, and he’s just dying to finally get his hands on a main roster singles title. McIntyre, as Michael Cole often repeats on commentary, has future Universal Champion written all over him. Unfortunately, he’s lost some momentum tagging with Shane McMahon, as he’s dragged down by associating with WWE’s least-cared-about on-screen character.
Make no mistake, though, McIntyre is still widely respected by the WWE Universe and is excellent in between those ropes. His matches with Andrade, Roderick Strong, Seth Rollins, and even Dolph Ziggler have been fantastic. McIntyre is a star, and he could remind people of his value with a great match against Black. I don’t expect this inane program with Shane to last much longer, and few would want to see another McIntyre vs. Reigns match at a Pay Per View.
Bray Wyatt
The host of “Firefly Fun House”, Bray Wyatt could make his return to the ring at WWE SummerSlam 2019, as WrestleVotes reports that the original plan has been for “The Eater of Worlds” to get back in the ring at the venue.
Now, those plans could have been scrapped by the new duo of Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff, but it would honestly make a whole lot of sense for the new regime to keep the status quo with Wyatt, who has been one of WWE’s most interesting characters since WrestleMania 35.
A former WWE Champion, Wyatt is back on the rise thanks to these wonderfully haunting “episodes” of his “children’s” show, which is like the creepiest version of Blue’s Clues ever. I mean, I still can’t believe what they did to Rambling Rabbit!
Anyway, Wyatt and Aleister Black seem like perfect opponents for each other. From the way Black practically begs someone to “knock on his door” for a fight to the way Wyatt beckons the audience to “let him in”, the back-and-forth promos practically write themselves.
In the ring, Wyatt is an underrated athlete and a crisp, veteran in-ring worker who can tell a compelling story, much like Black. There are layers to both wrestlers’ games, and their styles in the ring should mesh just as well as their characters. Consider this the best possible match for Black at SummerSlam, if he’s to have a coveted singles match in Toronto.
Shinsuke Nakamura
On the go-home show before Extreme Rules, Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor after a great match. When he’s at his best, Nakamura is untouchable and is both a master story-teller and living legend of the squared circle. He’s also an elite-level submission wrestler and striker, which means he’d be a wonderful stylistic fit for Aleister Black inside the ring.
Nakamura is two-for-two when it comes to having title matches at SummerSlam. While his SummerSlam debut in 2017 was a forgettable loss to Jinder Mahal, he did retain the United States Championship against wrestling icon Jeff Hardy at last year’s iteration of “The Biggest Party of The Summer”.
He could very well take the IC Title off of Balor and set himself up for a third straight SummerSlam title match with a totally different title. And it would be an absolute treat to see Black step up to the plate and challenge Nakamura to a fight.
There are few wrestlers who can be just as haunting with their mind games as Black, but Nakamura is one of them. There may not be a better wrestler on the planet when it comes to psyching out opponents or building to a match psychologically than Nakamura, whose best work was overlooked by the “Why won’t he win????” crowd during his feud with AJ Styles in 2018.
Fans would be fine with either Nakmaura or Black winning, and most would assume that a wrestler as entrenched as Nakamura, who is a former Royal Rumble winner, would grab the victory. So they’d just sit back and watch a potential WWE SummerSlam 2019 masterpiece.