Aleister Black was interviewed by Sports Illustrated prior to Monday's Raw talking about opportunity, why he hasn't translated well on the main roster, and more.
On why he believes he hasn't clicked yet on the main roster (something that might change with his movement to Smackdown as part of the WWE Draft), Black 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
On his hopes now that he's moved to Smackdown:
Initially, I want to establish this character. I want to establish this entrance, I want to establish this aesthetic. I want people to understand this character to the fullest extent. My character has always been designed to generate a response. I want this character to be a fundamental piece within the WWE universe that is understood and can move forward on this chessboard, and eventually get to the point where we have title matches. If those title matches somehow fail, then what is the consequence? Then what happens? I don’t want to do this for a while, then do that for a while. I want there to be multiple outros and intros for any type of storyline where I get involved.
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