WWE’s hard-striking anti-hero Aleister Black takes us on a musical journey, from having his young mind blown by Iron Maiden and Cradle Of Filth to using Nails as fuel for the fight and making friends with some of metallic hardcore’s brightest lights…
Wrestling and heavy metal have always gone hand in hand. From the beer-swilling aggro of Steve Austin and the ghoulish muscle of The Undertaker to Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho and the hard-hitting extravagance of riff-loving modern heroes like the late, great Bray Wyatt, there’s always some bruised-but-unbroken superstar with whom moshers find common ground. It’s hard to think of anyone in the history of the squared-circle more committed to the cause, however, than Amsterdam anti-hero Tom Büdgen: better known to fans as WWE’s Aleister Black.
Having previously performed on Donington’s hallowed turf and with an in-ring persona openly indebted to the attitude and aesthetic of hardcore and extreme metal, it’s hardly surprising to find that the esteemed Mr. Black grew up with Iron Maiden and Cradle Of Filth. But even following his recent return to WWE – with UK appearances scheduled on August’s Road To Clash In Paris Tour – it’s still startling to find how deep his love of all things hard and heavy goes. Prepare for a pummelling...
“When I was seven or eight years old, I remember that my brother was friends with this guy called Bart. He was your standard ’80s and ’90s metalhead: long hair, a patch-jacket, and he was a big fan of Iron Maiden. So my brother was a big Iron Maiden fan, too. We had this little mixtape with random Iron Maiden songs that I remember popping into my brother’s chrome tape player, and I can still remember hearing [the iconic opening bass and drums]. Then Paul Di’Anno, Iron Maiden’s original singer, starts singing over the top. That song always stuck with me because it was the first time I was really exposed to anything that would be considered ‘metal’. It connects my childhood to my ever-growing current love of heavy and alternative music.”
“It would have to be either From The Cradle To Enslave or Dimmu Borgir’s In Death’s Embrace. But I’d go with Cradle because, as I’ve actually said to Dani Filth before, Cradle Of Filth’s theatrics had a big influence on the characters that I’ve created. I remember an interview with Dani years ago where he talked about growing up with a love of bands with a real stage presence and over-the-top theatricality, like how Iron Maiden would have Eddie come out with them, or Alice Cooper’s big presentation. If you remember the music video for From The Cradle To Enslave, it’s a pretty rough, crazy-looking music video. It’s really gory! I’d never seen a video like that and when I think back to high school, it’s the one that sticks out that transcended that time and continued to influence me through my journey in professional wrestling and back into WWE, to the point that it’s one of the main reasons we’re having this conversation today!”
“It’s less about one song [and more like] the first band that I ever went to see with a girl that I was really into. Heideroosjes are a Dutch punk band. As a really rough translation, their band name means ‘Roses on the hill’. It was the first concert I was ever at, which was special, and she was there, too. They’re not the kind of band with pretty ballads or anything, but I guess that romance can be punk rock!”
“My first mosh-pit was probably at that same show with Heideroosjes. I remember that really old band Green Lizard opened the show. They were more of a sludgy alt.rock band, not so moshy. But I’m pretty sure the headliner that night was Napalm Death. I specifically remember that someone threw a beer bottle on the stage right as their singer Barney Greenway was coming on and he slipped on it and fell over. He was like, ‘That’s not funny, guys!’ I felt really bad for the dude. But I also remember [how crazy it got] when they played their two-second classic You Suffer!”
“It’s all about the violence. Straight violence. There are a bunch of songs that I could choose like All In by Guns Up! or literally anything by All Out War. I listen to a lot of hardcore. But off the top of my head it’s hard to think of anything more purely aggressive than Wide Open Wound by Nails.”
“It’s less about being ‘cheered up’ than being dragged away from those [darker] feelings. And it’s hard to think of any one specific song because so much of my favourite music is about taking me out of that frequency. It's like when people ask me what my 'favourite' song is. I’m always like, ‘Dude… there are a lot!’ If I’m being pushed to name one example, I guess I would pick Malfeitor by Watain. That’s definitely one of those songs that makes me say, ‘Alright, enough of this bullshit, I’m ready to rock’n’roll!’ Watain have always had a really big influence on me. They’re one of my favourite bands. And despite them being such a bleak example of black metal – not that any black metal isn’t bleak – they have so many of those songs with the power to pull you out of what you’re feeling.”
“I actually sing along to a lot of songs! If you ask my wife, she’ll tell you that I’m quite the car-singer. When it comes to music that is not loudly alternative, City And Colour are one of my top three bands. I love all of the music that Dallas Green has made as City And Colour. I mean, I love all his music. I could sing along to entire albums!”
“I love the idea of haunting, atmospheric music. This song has an incredibly cool build, where they’re doing something with the guitar that creates that ominous feeling. Obviously, I’ve used Amenra before and they’ve got that haunting quality. They’re still one of my favourite bands. As much as Nightmarer aren’t exactly the same as Amenra, they have that same overbearing, impending-doom feel. But where Amenra has some pretty melodies because their frontman is capable of both high-pitched screaming and delicate singing, Nightmarer just sounds like the sound of a straight-up nightmare. As Aleister Black, I always look at my entrance as a kind of ritual: something in which I want the audience to be emotionally engulfed. So any song that I use has to be capable of overwhelming the crowd and conveying that sense of being trapped in with me.”
“I’m not a big fan of pop music, generally. I can appreciate the talent involved, but it’s positioned in a way [that’s just not for me]. Away from real popular music, however, we have these cultural phenomenons where one track gets abused to the point where you want to get ahold of it and rip it apart. When the Baby Shark song came out, it really got on my nerves. Partly, I guess, because I wasn’t in on the joke. I didn’t think it was funny or cute. Maybe I’d get flak for saying that, and everybody would tell me that it was just meant to be silly. But because of that silliness everyone dove into it so hard that it became something that I couldn’t stand!”
“If I was picking the music I’d like played at my burial, I would pick three songs. Two would be from City And Colour: Rain and Young Lovers. The third is a track would be one by Cult Leader called You Cannot Break What Is Broken, which was recorded for their 2022 split EP with END, Gather & Mourn, but was never released. Anthony Lucero, the singer from Cult Leader, designs for my clothing label BLXCKMASS and is a good friend of mine. He often sends me music before it’s out. I don’t know that this song ever will be, but it’s just so amazingly pretty and makes me sit still and think. I don’t listen to it very often so that I’m able to retain its effect on me, but every time that I do it takes me away from whatever I’m doing or pulls me back down to earth. I hope they do find a way to release it some day. Because it’s an absolute masterpiece.”
WWE hits the UK and Ireland this August for the Road To Clash In Paris Tour – get your tickets now.
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