As a person who studies the rhetoric of identity, I find myself endlessly interested in how professional wrestlers handle their “kayfabe”– or in-character– identities and then their “regular” identities.
For some, it blurs greatly. John Cena is a great example of this. At one point, John Cena the person was one particular guy (mostly who he is now, just not so loud) and his in-ring character was a heel Marky-Mark, a dis rapping, free-styling “Doctor of Thugonomics” who put a spinning wheel in the WWE title because rims.
For others, it’s a harder line. Kevin Owens, for example, is a fun-loving guy on his Instagram and Snapchat, but he Tweets in-character, often to the point that he actually continues TV storylines in his Twitter feed (from making his profile picture solid black after losing the US title to blocking the production company that makes WWE’s music when they took a shot at his gimmick).
Then there are the ones who are just super-interesting. Some of the talents in NXT (the WWE’s developmental territory) try hard to cultivate their characters, laboring in various media to make sure their brand grows.
One such wrestler is Dutch star Tom Budgen, known for a long time as Tommy End, now known in WWE as Aleister Black.
To get a sense of his character, here are a few stills of him:
And here is a live performance of his theme as he enters at the last big NXT show:
As Tommy End, he was a member of a group called the Sumerian Death Squad. His gimmick is loosely Wiccan, or pagan, or to some outright Satanic, though he’s not a heel. He’s actually a face character.
He’s sinister, though, and he has that “it” factor. He finally spoke in NXT this week, but previously he’d simply let his actions speak for him.
That gives you a sense of Aleister Black.
The kicker for this case is that Aleister has a cat. His cat’s name is Totty Potato, and he has an Instagram account. He is the cutest thing you can imagine, and I say that as someone allergic to cats.
So yeah, the most dangerous man, the silent spooky guy, has the world’s cutest cat.
That’s weird branding.
And that cat is SO CUTE!