7 Times WWE Tried To Unbury Someone (& Failed!)

2. Aleister Black

To simply read about Aleister Black's 2020s is to assume that the former Tommy End has managed to game a two-majors system for cheques, championships and the sort of gains that come from mass exposure across two companies and multiple television stations.

Those that have actually watched this play out know it not to really be the case.

He was very nearly chosen to eliminate Brock Lesnar from the 2020 Royal Rumble and become WWE Champion, but when Drew McIntyre got the spot and the belt, Black went back to being thought of as the guy that spent months in a locked room asking for a fight rather than a wrestler who might be good at winning one. 

This was the headline from his main roster call-up after a quietly decent tag run with Ricochet, and it stuck like glue when he found himself surprisingly released in June 2021. Injuries had cost him time, but he had sentiment on his side when - like so many from that period - he felt more like wronged party than WWE Superstar from his time with the market leader. This fed into a spectacular debut with All Elite Wrestling, but time with the challenger brand was tarnished - ironically - by his alleged unwillingness to get involved in much with a view of returning to the newly Triple H-helmed WWE.

After more uneven stuff with AEW, he got his wish in 2025, but the less he did, the more his side-eying for the opposition looked like a major error. His character continued to not make enough sense for enough people to care about, and even when he was paired with Zelina Vega for WWE's second run at the Karrion Kross/Scarlett devil's advocate business, it wasn't engaging enough for them to avoid releases in the company's post-WrestleMania cuts.