WWE Extreme Rules: Aiden English explains how The Vaudevillains came to be, and how Vickie Guerrero has helped

English and his partner Simon Gotch face The New Day this Sunday

Aiden English has a background in threatre (WWE)

On the cusp of the biggest match of their WWE careers, one half of The Vaudevillains, Aiden English has spoken about how the tag team he partners with Simon Gotch came to be.

The Vaudevillains take on The New Day at Extreme Rules on Sunday for the WWE Tag Team titles.

English who studied acting at college before taking to the squared circle, said this week: "I had been in NXT for probably about two years when this (idea) came up. We had just started at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and at the time, I was doing my theatrical, artiste entrance to the ring and doing things on my own and Simon Gotch had just recently come to WWE. I think someone basically suggested, 'Hey, Simon has this unique look, you have this whole entertainer, artiste thespian persona going on, is there anything there?' To be fair, we did not know each other so this wasn't something we originally threw together, but when somebody kind of tossed the idea out there, we got together and we're like, 'How can we turn this into something?


 Aiden English, right, and his tag team partner Simon Gotch 
 (WWE)

"All I remember was that somebody threw out the word vaudeville. Obviously, coming from a theatre background, I loved all that stuff. So I literally went home that night, sat on my bed and said, 'Hmm, vaudeville ... alright, we're going to do a team ... vaudeville ... Vaudevillains.' ... It literally rolled off my tongue as I said it out loud. I went, 'OK, let's try that,' and boom, literally the next day off we went, we started teaming, we started doing shows, then NXT and so on and so forth."

Away from the canvas, English - real name Matthew Rehwoldt - is married to former wrestler Shaul Marie, daughter of late wrestling legend Eddie Guerrero, and has revealed how much help his mother-in-law Vickie Guerrero, herself a former WWE performer, has given him in his fledgling career.

"Obviously, anytime you have family or friends or anybody who has been in the business you're in or been down the path, it's an invaluable asset, an invaluable centre for advice," English said.

"My mother-in-law Vickie is an amazing person and has been nothing but helpful and supportive. She helps with the little things, dealing with being on the road and being away from home and how to keep up communication and little things like where the best hotels are, how to find a gym, little things on the road. She's helped me deal with this transition from NXT where I was primarily just in Florida to now with WWE, where I'm on the road every single week, something she knows plenty about. She's been nothing but helpful and supportive and very, very sweet and kind."

Catch Aiden English this Sunday on Extreme Rules live on the WWE Network at 8pm ET (Monday 1:00am BST)