Aleister Black Reveals Why WWE Fired Him

The Dutch Destroyer explains what WWE told him.

by Andrew Pollard
Aleister Black NXT
WWE

With WWE releasing six talents earlier today, Aleister Black has moved to reveal that budget cuts were the reason why he was let go by the company.

The former NXT Champion was released alongside Braun Strowman, Ruby Riott, Lana, Santana Garrett and Buddy Murphy today, and the Wrestling Observer notes that Black appeared on Thea Trinidad’s Twitch account and explained how he was told that he was being fired due to budgets cuts.

Given how the Dutch Destroyer had recently been repackaged and brought back to WWE programming after nearly six months off TV, his release was one of the more surprising of the six names announced today.

Having already changed his Twitter handle back to his Tommy End moniker, the talented Harbinger of Fury took to social media to declare how the news of his WWE exit came completely out of left field, before later adding how he’s not mad at this development.

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As for the aforementioned Thea Trinidad, aka Zelina Vega, there were reports last month that she’d agreed to return to WWE after being fired by the company late last year. Trinidad was spotted at the WWE Performance Center in May, but reports indicate that she has not yet signed a contract for any sort of WWE return.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.