Aleister Black and Zelina Vega were two of the WWE Superstars released from the company on what is now being dubbed as the latest “Black Friday.” While a lot of people are fantasy booking them as a top-tier TNA act and some are hoping Black returns to AEW, I’d much rather see Black/Tommy End and Zelina Vega head to Japan.
I was a big fan of Tommy End when he was a regular on the UK and European scenes, especially his work in PROGRESS and wXw. There, Black was able to focus more on the in-ring rather than cutting promos for television, so there was less pressure on character beyond his look and abilities when he was actually wrestling.
I think Japan, specifically New Japan, would work perfectly for Black/Tommy End at this point in his career. Having someone with his presence in a world where his in-ring work will do the majority of the talking will do wonders for him. I’m not saying that Black is a bad talker by any stretch, not at all, but I think that bringing his ‘character’ back to the Muay Thai specialist that can finish a match in a heartbeat is where he needs to go right now.
Tommy End can craft a more solid persona outside of America
For me, a lot of the issue with Black’s character in WWE and then AEW is that there wasn’t a huge amount of cohesion. The last time I truly felt like I got his motivations and direction is when he was in NXT doing the aforementioned Muay Thai killer, he didn’t say a whole lot, he got in the ring and produced some incredible work on the black and gold brand.
The Velveteen Dream feud and his matches with Tommaso Ciampa still hold up as the clearest version of this character anyone’s put on screen, for me anyway. The House of Black was a cool stable, and yes Black likely had a lot of input there, but something always felt slightly off.
I think that End needs to have the chance to truly establish what his character is again, away from a creative team, away from outside forces and just let him become who he needs to be. We’ve seen so many times now that acts leaving WWE and then forging their own path have come back even more successful, you just need to look at how Cody Rhodes fully fleshed out his act after dropping WWE/Stardust and how Drew McIntyre became a genuine main event level star at ICW, IMPACT et al before finally making his return.
The problem for Black has been constant repackages, repositions, returns that fizzle out quickly and creative teams pulling him three directions at once. Black needs to rebuild from scratch, away from WWE creative and away from the outside noise.
Zelina Vega can work in STARDOM
Not to make this all about Black though, because Zelina Vega is a solid performer herself and is in no way an afterthought. Thea Trinidad can either work as Black’s mouthpiece in New Japan, work in STARDOM or ideally…do both.
Granted, it has been a long time since Vega appeared in STARDOM (November 2016 was her last match there), but she actually has almost the polar opposite of what Black/End brings to the table. Vega/Trinidad is great on the microphone, and she just needs to be given the opportunity to speak more and be a character performer for a promotion like STARDOM/NJPW, help elevate some of the incredible Joshi talent and bring a different element to the overall presentation.
The package deal is what makes this work: Black needs a stage that lets him be quiet and brutal and Vega needs a stage that lets her talk. NJPW and STARDOM, run as a joint move and it solves both problems in one stroke: he handles the in-ring, she handles the mic in NJPW and gets her matches in with STARDOM, and both of them can rebuild value that WWE has spent years failing to develop.
