Aleister Black Shoots On His Booking, Presentation & More

Aleister Black has spoken in a recent interview about recent changes to the presentation of his character, his entrance, and more.

Many fans have been disappointed by how WWE has used Aleister Black in recent months, and especially last night when he was picked so late in the WWE Draft – The likes of R-Truth, Titus O’Neil and Akira Tozawa were picked before him.

Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Black addressed some of the confusion/criticism that surrounds his character and WWE’s booking of it. He said:

“I think the reason for that is we moved so far away from what Aleister Black was in NXT that people started getting confused about what exactly Aleister Black was supposed to be. After a few conversations, I said, ‘I need a different direction.’ That led to the creation of this new Aleister Black, where he is a little more human and people can latch on to him quicker. Being human doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be a good guy. It also can mean that it is a villain, and you can better understand the motives of where the character comes from. You don’t have to agree with the motives to understand them, but the motive had got lost for Aleister Black on the main roster.

“The opportunities presented on Raw and SmackDown are this great chessboard. Aleister Black, he feels that he has never had the opportunity to do what he needs to do. If he doesn’t get those opportunities, he’s going to burn the whole chessboard. If that means he’s sent to purgatory, that’s fine, because he’s been in purgatory. If you want to take it one step further and send him to hell, that’s fine, too. He’s accustomed to hell, his whole childhood was spent there.

“If Aleister Black doesn’t get his opportunity, then no one does. That is a much more relatable antagonistic way of looking at things. Before, that motive wasn’t as clear. A few months ago, what did he stand for? He was fighting for himself, then he got entangled with Rey Mysterio, and that left himself open to vicious beatings each week. It seemed like he never learned from his mistakes, which is strange for Aleister, because he seems so calculated. That got shuffled away a little bit.

“Although for a lot of people it seemed like Aleister Black never really got his shot or his chance, Aleister Black was injected into so many different storylines with so many different high-level people that it’s been a highly successful period. I’ve been entangled with some of the biggest names in this industry. I had a short-lived program with AJ Styles that involved The Undertaker. I was involved with Rey Mysterio, and that also involved Seth Rollins. Before that, myself and Buddy Murphy had a chance to prove to the world that there is a new way of doing things, a style that showed there is an evolution to the business that still upholds old-school fundamentals and pacing. Some fans may feel like I haven’t gotten my due, but please look at the body of work I’ve laid down. I still did a lot of things and made myself a valuable asset, and I’ve proven over the past two years that Aleister Black can be thrown in with anyone and be successful.”

Black recently got new entrance music as part of WWE’s phasing out of themes produced by CFO$. He addressed his entrance presentation, saying:

“The entrance is not done yet. Everything you miss about the old entrance, there will be substitutes for them. It will come, but it’s going to take a second to get everything ready. Us pulling the trigger on the new music—could we have waited? Possibly, but we didn’t, so we got there the way we got there. But we’re not finished. The presentation of the new entrance is not done yet.”

Black went into a lot of detail about his character, what he is hoping to accomplish and much more, providing some very interesting insight into his mind, so the full interview is really worth checking out.

• Aleister Black
• entrance
• Smackdown
• wwe

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