Current WWE Superstar Aleister Black has opened up about his time in All Elite Wrestling, directly addressing and debunking several persistent fan narratives that have followed him since he left the company. In a detailed interview on The Masked Man Show, Black clarified rumors about his injury status, his alleged unwillingness to lose matches, and the notion that he was unhappy during his run with the promotion.
Aleister Black on Injury Rumors and Being “Utilized”
One of the most common narratives surrounding Black’s time in AEW was that he was frequently injured, which was used to explain his sometimes-inconsistent presence on television. Black explained that while he did have a back injury at one point, it was resolved, and a social media post about his recovery was misinterpreted and spun into a false narrative.
“This was a post where I talked about, ‘I had this back injury three months ago. We finally got the vertebrae right back again, so I can finally deadlift.’ I made that post and within months, weeks, days, maybe, everyone is like, ‘Aleister Black back injury. This is why he’s not being utilized,’” he explained. “For some reason, to this day, people still run with that narrative because I wasn’t on TV as much. That is literally because we weren’t utilized that way. That’s just what it was.”
He also noted that his absence from TV was often due to creative decisions, particularly AEW President Tony Khan’s preference for booking his group, The House of Black, in six-man tag team matches.
The Myth of Not Wanting to Lose
Another persistent rumor was that Black used his creative influence to avoid being pinned or losing matches. Black emphatically denied this, pointing out the flawed logic of the accusation.
“If you really think that I have so much pull in the company that I can say who I’m not going up against or lay down against, you think I’m not going to vouch for myself or put myself in the main events?” he asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
He stated that he now knows how and why that rumor came to life but chose not to elaborate further. He made it clear that he had a “great time in AEW” and that the idea he “never wanted to be in AEW” is “completely false.”
A Calculated Business Decision
Ultimately, Aleister Black’s decision to leave AEW and return to WWE was a calculated one based on his career goals and the fact that his wife, Zelina Vega, was in WWE. He explained that he weighed the creative options presented by both companies and chose the one that made the most sense for him professionally and personally.
“I made a calculated business decision and I looked at what I wanted to do, where I wanted to do it, and how I wanted to do it,” Black said. “Listening to option A and what they wanted, option B and what they wanted, and I picked the one that, business-wise, made sense for me. I feel I had a lot left to do here and on this side, what they wanted me to do, that didn’t completely align with what I want to do, so I’m going to go the other route.”
Black’s detailed comments serve to set the record straight on his AEW tenure, painting a picture of a professional who enjoyed his time there but ultimately made a strategic choice to return to WWE to pursue a different set of goals.
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