Ranking 20 WWE Debuts And Returns In 2019

3. Aleister Black

CM Punk, WWE Backstage
WWE.com

What a weird journey 2019 has been for Aleister Black.

The Striking Man from Amsterdam was called up to the main roster in February along with Ricochet as part of yet another attempt to shake things up. The two formed a tag team as part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – which they won – and also were a formidable force on the main roster as well.

But WWE seemingly did not have any long-term plans for the duo as a tag team, as they lost multiple tag title matches, despite being one of the most popular, dynamic teams on the roster. After the Superstar Shakeup, Black landed on SmackDown, where he spent weeks upon weeks asking people to knock on his door and pick a fight with him. This led to Aleister rarely wrestling, but remaining on TV.

This fall, Black was drafted to Raw, where he resumed the dark room promos, but he supplemented it with actually, you know, wrestling. He closed out 2019 in a feud with Buddy Murphy, where both men are getting a chance to showcase their in-ring talents.

Despite not doing a whole hell of a lot, Black also wasn’t subjected to a ton of missteps, so he closes out the year with an upward trajectory.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.