Aleister Black Completes NXT Sweep With Win Over Elias on WWE Raw

Aleister Black won his main roster debut match on Monday Night Raw this week, defeating Elias with [...]

By Connor Casey

Aleister Black won his main roster debut match on Monday Night Raw this week, defeating Elias with his Black Mass finisher.

The former NXT Champion interrupted one of Elias' concerts with his trademark rising platform entrance. After a brief back and forth contest, Black knocked Elias out cold with his spinning kick.

Black's win gives the NXT call-ups a clean sweep over main roster talent on the night, as Ricochet teamed with Finn Balor to beat Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley in a tag match, while a reunited DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) defeated The Revival just one week after the latter team won the Raw Tag Team Championships.

Known as Tommy End on the independent wrestling scene, the Dutch wrestler signed with the WWE back in 2016. He made his WWE Network debut as a surprise competitor at the WWE UK Championship Tournament event in January 2017, facing Neville in a non-tournament match.

Black's early run of NXT TakeOver matches included wins over Hideo Itami at TakeOver: Brooklyn III, Velveteen Dream at TakeOver: WarGames and Adam Cole in an Extreme Rules match at TakeOver: Philadelphia. He then turned his attention to the NXT Championship, and managed to defeat Andrade "Cien" Almas for the title at TakeOver: New Orleans during the WrestleMania 34 weekend. But as the massive feud between Ciampa and Gargano stole the headlines and main evented back-to-back TakeOvers, Black's reign with the brand's top prize was noticeably overshadowed.

He wound up getting involved in the feud between the two former DIY members and dropped the title to Ciampa on the July 18, 2018 episode of NXT when Gargano accidentally hit him while trying to interfere to attack Ciampa. A triple threat match was originally booked for TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, but Black had to be written out of the match due to a real-life injury.

Black was written out of the show by being shown getting knocked out by an unknown attacker in the Full Sail University parking lot. He quickly learned upon his return that Gargano was responsible, turning "Johnny Wrestling" heel in the process. He got his revenge on Gargano by beating him at TakeOver: WarGames, then tried and failed to get the NXT Championship back from Ciampa at TakeOver: Phoenix.

All four men in Monday's call-up were also involved in the returning Halftime Heat special during Super Bowl LIII. Black and Ricochet teamed to Velveteen Dream to defeat Gargano, Ciampa and Adam Cole in a six-man tag match.

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