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After weeks of cutting dark and gritty backstage promos, it was revealed on this week's SmackDown Live that Aleister Black would be making his in-ring return at Extreme Rules against a mystery opponent. It was confirmed a just a few hours ago that Black's mystery opponent will be revealed this week on SmackDown Live. Black was drafted to the blue brand during the Superstar Shake Up which meant that he had to split up with his former tag team partner, Ricochet, who was drafted to RAW.
Black's main roster run has been a quite lukewarm so far. After being abruptly called up to the main roster following a great run in NXT, the Dutch Destroyer was put in a tag team with fellow NXT compatriot, Ricochet. Together, the duo would unsuccessfully challenge for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 35. As mentioned before, Black was drafted to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-Up and is yet to have a proper singles match on the blue brand.
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Black is one of the most talented Superstars on the main roster and is someone whom the WWE is going to build as their next big star. Therefore, he should be given an opponent worthy of his stature, someone who can bring the best out of the Dutchman.
Here are five potential opponents for Aleister Black at Extreme Rules:
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#5 Cesaro
The Swiss Superman has been one of the most overlooked talents on the main roster. Despite being one of the strongest pound-for-pound wrestlers on the roster, management has never really put any stock in presenting Cesaro as a top singles star. The former Claudio Castanglio has mostly been used as a tag team wrestler for the majority of his WWE run and has totally excelled in the role.
His partnership with Sheamus, in particular, has helped revive fan interest in tag team wrestling with the duo putting on great matches against the likes of The Usos, The New Day, The Shield ( Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose) and The Hardy Boys. Collectively known as 'The Bar', Sheamus and Cesaro have won the Tag Team titles on multiple occasions.
With Sheamus suffering a concussion during a match on SmackDown, Cesaro was drafted to RAW as a singles star even getting new entrance music. He would be a part of a couple of great matches against Ricochet on RAW with the duo trading victories back and forth.
It was reported last month that Cesaro could be the one to answer Black's challenge. Although it would be an inter-brand match, the prospect of seeing these two beat the holy hell out of each other isn't something fans would like to pass on. Black vs Cesaro would be a highly interesting affair and we believe that Cesaro would bring out the best in Black and would make him look like a top star if they were to lock horns inside the squared circle.
#4 Rusev
The Bulgarian Brute has been MIA from WWE programming for quite some time now. It was reported a few weeks ago by various news outlets that Rusev, along with his wife, Lana had asked for some time off from the company and the company had granted them the same. The report, however, was quashed by the man himself on Twitter saying that the dirt sheets got it all wrong.
Following this, rumors began surfacing about the Bulgarian's current WWE contract with some reports suggesting that his contract is up within a few months and that he is not looking to re-sign with the company. Just a cursory glance at the Bulgarian's WWE career over the past few years will show how bad booking coupled with lack of creative direction has completely ruined Rusev, a man whom many believed was going to be a world champion.
Rusev is someone who always makes his opponents look good. If he is indeed contemplating on leaving WWE for newer pastures, we think that the former US Champion should put over a young upstart like Black on his way out.
#3 Randy Orton
Much like Rusev, we haven't heard or seen anything involving the Viper on WWE programming for quite some time now. Orton was last seen competing against Triple H at Super Show Down. Orton was the first Superstar to reply to WWE's tweet regarding who should be Black's first opponent on the blue brand. Orton replied saying that it should be him.
In a career spanning almost two decades, Orton has firmly established himself as one of the greatest of all time. A multi-time World Champion, Orton is known to be one of the most sinister and conniving Superstars in WWE history. Orton has always enjoyed inflicting pain onto his opponents which have earned him the title of WWE's 'Apex Predator'.
Orton vs Black is a dream match for many of the WWE Universe. It will be an interesting clash of styles with Orton's slow, methodical and calculative offense being the perfect foil for Black's quick, hard-hitting array of offensive moves. If given the right amount of time, this has the potential to be the best match on the entire Extreme Rules card.
#2 Buddy Murphy
One of the biggest success stories of 2018, the Best Kept Secret had a terrific year where he became the backbone of WWE's Cruiserweight division. Buddy Murphy debuted on 205 Live at the start of 2018 in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament where he lost in the second round to Ali. Murphy would then become a staple of 205 Live putting on great matches against the likes of Ali, Jack Gallagher, Drew Gulak and Akira Tozawa.
Murphy would win the Cruiserweight Championship from Cedric Alexander in front of his hometown crowd in Melbourne, Australia at Super ShowDown in October last year. He would hold onto the title for the next six months before dropping it to Tony Nese at WrestleMania 35.
Murphy was drafted to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-Up but has mostly been doing dark matches and cutting promos during commercials. Both Black and Murphy are extremely gifted between the ropes and this has the potential to be one of the best main roster matches of 2019.
#1 Sheamus
Despite being a part of 'The Bar' along with Cesaro for the past few years, it is easy to forget that the Irishman had a pretty solid run as a singles star prior to joining forces with Cesaro to form 'The Bar'. In fact, the Celtic Warrior is one of the most decorated Superstars in WWE history, winning as many championships as possible. In addition to that, Sheamus is also a former Royal Rumble, King of The Ring and Money In The Bank contract winner, a record he shares with Edge and Brock Lesnar.
Sheamus was taken off TV and live events after he suffered a concussion during a three-man tag team match on SmackDown in April. Rumors began surfacing following this incident which suggested that the slew of neck injuries and concussions may force Sheamus to retire from in-ring competition. But, all rumors appear to be untrue as the former WWE Champion is reported to make his in-ring return sometime in the near future. He was reportedly present at the SmackDown TV tapings last week which would indicate that he will be returning to the squared circle very soon.
Although it might not seem like an interesting match-up on paper, it could end up being a pretty solid match, in our opinion. A match against Black will be the perfect way for Sheamus to make his in-ring return. It will be interesting to see how well the styles of Black and Sheamus mesh inside the squared circle.
