Aiden English

Developmental territories (2012–2016)

Rehwoldt signed a contract with WWE in early 2012, and was assigned to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he began using the ring name "Aiden English". He made his televised debut on the April 8, 2012 episode of FCW television, teaming with Audrey Marie in an intergender tag team match against Rick Victor and Paige.^[9]

After WWE rebranded FCW as NXT in 2012, English's television debut took place on the June 27 episode of the rebooted NXT taped at Full Sail University, losing to Leo Kruger. English was used primarily as a jobber throughout the rest of the year, losing to wrestlers including Bray Wyatt, Ryback, and Big E Langston.^[10][11][12] He scored his first televised win on the September 18, 2013 episode of NXT, defeating Michael Q. Laurie.^[13]

A week later, on the September 25 episode of NXT, English sang a parody version of the "Major-General's Song" from the musical The Pirates of Penzance while approaching the ring. He subsequently began singing before, during and after his matches.^[3][14] Throughout the year, English scored wins over Jason Jordan and Camacho.^[15][16] In the beginning of 2014, English began a feud with Colin Cassady, losing to him on the January 1 episode of NXT in a sing-off but defeating him in several matches.^{[17][18][19][20]}

In June 2014, English formed a tag team with Simon Gotch, known as The Vaudevillains.^[21] At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, the Vaudevillains defeated Blake and Murphy to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.^[22] On the November 11 episode of NXT, the Vaudevillains lost the title to Dash and Dawson, ending their reign at 61 days.^[23] On the November 25 episode of NXT, the Vaudevillains faced Dash and Dawson in a rematch for the title in a losing effort. On the December 23 episode of NXT, the Vaudevillains competed in a four-way tag team match against Blake and Murphy, The Hype Bros and Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, won by Gable and Jordan. On the March 16, 2016 episode of NXT, the Vaudevillains were defeated by Gable and Jordan, now known as American Alpha, in a #1 contenders match for the NXT Tag Team Championship.

Tag Team Championship pursuits (2016–2017)

On the April 7, 2016 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillains made their main roster debut as heels, defeating The Lucha Dragons.^[24] On the April 11 episode of Raw, the Vaudevillains were announced as one of the teams to participate in the #1 contenders tournament for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they defeated Goldust and Fandango in the first round later that week on SmackDown and The Usos on the April 18 episode of Raw in the semi-finals.^[25][26][27] At Payback, the Vaudevillains faced Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady in the finals of the tournament. The match resulted in a no-contest due to a legit concussion by Amore, and the Vaudevillains were declared number one contenders.^[28] At Extreme Rules, the Vaudevillains received their shot at the titles against The New Day in a losing effort.^[29] At Money in the Bank, The Vaudevillians competed in a Fatal 4-way tag team match also involving Enzo and Cass and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson for the titles in a losing effort.

On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, the Vaudevillians were drafted to SmackDown in the tenth round of picks. In August, a tag team tournament for the newly created WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship was set up by SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan and SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon, where the winners of the tournament would be crowned the inaugural champions. On the August 30 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillians would compete in the first round match of the tournament, where they were defeated by The Hype Bros. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillians were defeated by Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) in a qualifying match for a spot in Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. On the January 31, 2017 episode of SmackDown, the Vaudevillains, along with five other teams, answered an open challenge set by American Alpha, where a brawl between all six teams ensued before being broken up by referees and officials. At Elimination Chamber, the Vaudevillains competed in a tag team turmoil match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, where they were eliminated by Heath Slater and Rhyno. At WrestleMania 33, English competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Mojo Rawley. On April 5, 2017, English's partner Simon Gotch was released from WWE.^[30]

Teaming and feuding with Rusev (2017–present)

English (right) with Rusev at WrestleMania 34

In April 2017, The Vaudevillains were disbanded upon Gotch being released by WWE, with English returning to singing prior to his matches.^[31] In April, he entered into a feud with Tye Dillinger, losing to him at Backlash.^[32] At Battleground, English once again faced Dillinger, this time in a winning effort.^[33] In September, English allied with Rusev during a rivalry Rusev had been having with Randy Orton. After losing to Orton at SummerSlam, Rusev issued a rematch to Orton following a match with English, which Orton had won. English distracted Orton and allowed Rusev to pick up the victory in nine seconds, the same time that Orton had defeated Rusev in at SummerSlam. The next week, it was hold a segment where the mayor of Rusev's Bulgarian hometown appeared to declare Rusev Day, holding a ceremony to present Rusev with the keys to the city. English sang a special song for Rusev commemorating the occasion. The following days, the crowd started to chant Rusev Day during Rusev's matches. On the December 5 episode of SmackDown Live, English and Rusev picked up a win against The New Day and were later inserted into a fatal four-way tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Clash of Champions, but failed to capture the titles at the event. The duo continued to gain popularity and momentum as the crowd continued to rally behind them, allowing them another opportunity at number one contendership to the tag titles in a triple threat tag team match on the December 26 episode of SmackDown Live against The New Day and the team of Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin in a losing effort.

In July, with English and Rusev now firmly established as fan favorites, tensions rose between Rusev and English after English cost him and Lana singles and mixed matches against Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega. English was told to stay back, this would make English challenge Almas to prove himself on August 14 episode of SmackDown Live, however he lost the match. The next week on SmackDown Live, English interfered Rusev and Lana's mixed match against Almas and Vega, preventing Almas from using a chair, giving the victory to Rusev and Lana. After the match, English would be forgiven by both Rusev and Lana. On the September 4 episode of Smackdown Live, English and Rusev defeated The Usos and Sanity, advancing to the finals in a Tag Team Championship tournament, defeating The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) the next week in the finals, thus earning a championship opportunity against The New Day at Hell in a Cell. At the event, English and Rusev lost to The New Day after a dissension between them. On the September 18 episode of SmackDown Live, Rusev lost to Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship. After the match, English reverted to a heel further by attacking Rusev, thus officially ending Rusev Day. On the September 25 episode of SmackDown Live, English explained that he did it because of Lana being in the way and alluded to have had an affair with her.^[34] A week later on Smackdown Live, English showed video evidence of Lana coming into English's hotel room and apparently professing her feelings for him. A week later, Lana showed the rest of the video evidence, revealing that she thanked English for helping Rusev, but English made romantic advances towards her.