Alistair Black (real name: Tom Büdgen) may have left his home in Amsterdam to pursue a love of pro wrestling, but he’s taken his European influence into every ring that he’s ever grappled in. Together with a vast background in martial arts, Black’s WWE performances offer an exciting mix of striking and chain wrestling, a rapidly waning skill that is being lost in the current era of “sports entertainment.”
M&F sat down with the detail-oriented Dutchman, to find out how his training has evolved during his career so far, and how he’s passing this wisdom down to the next generation of pro wrestling trainees.
WWE fans were shocked to see Alistair Black take a nasty fall that saw the wrestler descend rapidly from the top of an ambulance and crash through a table on the January 2, 2026, episode of SmackDown, but rumours that he’d suffered a career ending injury have proven to be exaggerated. “There was a small hairline fracture in my tailbone,” confirms the fighter, who explains that he didn’t even realize until a regular physical therapy session found swelling in his lower back. “I had no idea,” he tells M&F of the serious reminder that pro wrestling is anything but fake. Fortunately, Black is anything but beat.
The Martial Arts Foundation Behind Black’s Conditioning
Of course, this 6-foot superstar’s appreciation for big time wrestling stems from the smaller shows and low-to-zero payoffs that he received on the way up. Black was not just a fan of WWE in his youth, but also the strong-style wrestling in Japan, an influence that encouraged him to take up martial arts like pencak silat from the tender age of 9. He also learned Muay Thai under former world champions Liam Harrison and Andy Howson.
Black began his pro wrestling training at 15, traveling to The Hague, then oversees to England and Germany in his mid-teens, where he picked up the art of chain wrestling — a discipline that favors limb locks and submission holds, where there are plenty of reversals but very few breaks. “It was definitely a big grind,” he reflects, noting that the personal and financial sacrifices that he made only served to help him appreciate where his career is at now. As part of the pro wrestling juggernaut that is WWE, the Black has been main eventing packed arena shows like SmackDown, but this elite athlete says his training never stops evolving.
Ryan Loco
How Powerlifting and Nutritional Changes Helped Alistair’s Physique at 37
“Over the years, I started to blend the realms of martial arts into professional wrestling,” explains Black of his exciting in-ring style. “And to me, that’s an ongoing process.” Another ongoing process has been this athlete’s journey with exercise. “I’m not built for bodybuilding,” says the combat star. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to lift weights.”
Black tells M&F that taking up powerlifting was a game changer because this gave him goals in the gym, rather than focusing purely on bicep size. “With my deadlifts, my squats, my overhead presses, and bench presses, I could work towards a specific goal,” he says of his enthusiasm for pushing himself in the weightroom.
When Black signed with WWE around a decade ago, he was 30 years of age and in great shape, but the rigors of the road and the added pressures of the spotlight began to have a detrimental effect on his health. “I was still very much a rice and chicken guy, and lifting weights very crudely, not realizing that there was a lot of nuance to a lot of things that I could do,” he reflects. Eventually, the pro wrestler connected with nutrition coach, Austin J. Sims. “He understands, I’m a (combat) athlete, not a bodybuilder, right? And it’s funny to say that I got in my best shape at age 37 or 38.”
High-Rep Training for Strength & Cardiovascular Endurance
Now 40, Black explains that it really is all about balance and consistency when it comes to crushing your fitness goals. The wrestler tracks his calories and macros so that if he’s on the road with WWE, he can make simple swaps and still hit his targets. “It’s just having a healthy relationship with food, that is predominantly understanding what is functional, but also understanding that it doesn’t have to be cardboard,” notes Black. “It doesn’t mean that food has to be bland.”
As a busy wrestler on the road, Black has also changed up his rep schemes. While he still loves the odd powerlifting session from time to time, Black tells M&F that his focus is now on functionality, and longevity in the ring. Of course, he’s already required to powerlift his opponents inside the WWE ring, so when in the gym, Black likes to lift lower weights, but at a much higher volume, often hitting one hundred reps per exercise to work on strength and stamina at the same time.
Alistair Black is Preserving Chain Wrestling & Mental Health in the Next Generation Pro Wrestlers
Having trained extensively in England back in the day, Black still incorporates this influence in 2026. “I try to implement it in every match that I have,” he shares. “Even if it’s a quick hook, or a quick wrist lock, or quick top wrist lock, or whatever I can do to give something that has the element of wrestling in it. Because at the end of the day, it’s called professional wrestling. We are wrestlers, and you know this this is probably gonna sound kind of interesting coming from a guy who’s known as a striker, but I feel a lot of times we forget the law of the land is professional wrestling, when as soon as the bell rings fist starts flying.”
Keeping the traditional art of pro wrestling alive is also a huge aspect of life at Black’s wrestling school in Florida, which he runs with his wife and fellow WWE superstar, Zelina Vega. “They train with me, and obviously I have pretty high standards,” says the grappler of his game students. Still, having wrestled in those less than safe environments during his youth, this coach is all about providing a comfortable environment in which his aspiring pro wrestler’s can grow. “I cover mental health because it’s a very real thing in our industry,” says Black. “It’s not easy doing this.”
Now taking the many lessons that he’s learned from a stellar career that includes the NXT world title, Black is readying for his own future return to the mat, and we will likely see him chasing WWE gold in the not-too-distant future. “I still feel really good!” he tells M&F.
WWE SmackDown airs on USA Network every Friday night at 8/7 C in the U.S, while international viewers can catch all of the action via Netflix.
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