Aleister Black

Going to transcribe as it happens - watch along here:

Tommy End / Aleister Black is live on Twitch, giving a rambly recount of his time in WWE. Overall he is incredibly happy, positive and sincere. He seems really well adjusted. The comments below are verbatim, and if they seem confused it's because he hopped around a bunch - he seemed excited / a bit anxious to just chat.

• Dark Father: The plan was to unfurl over time and explain the role. This was mostly his idea, he says.

• Super thankful for the exposure and the experience. He has a good relationship with Vince. Vince could never nail down exactly what he wanted to say with Black.

• Loved how Heyman would go to bat for him.

• When doing the Room promos, he would use the opponents colours in the background of the room. He added easter eggs to what he was doing.

• Black would lay tarot cards, and use those as inspiration for his gear, and often plan out coloured jackets for feuds (he gives the example of Buddy Murphy, and turning green with envy) so all colours were significant as to how he felt in that moment)

• Refers to his time in WWE as "having shackles on" and how much he got done while having those on, and is excited to see what happens without them. He's always taken huge pleasure in creating characters.

• Aleister Black "was basically the devil with memory loss" - what if Lucifer fell to earth and didn't know how he got there, and what he had to atone for? So the angrier he got, the more demon flesh would be added to his gear (opinion - this is fucking wild and I love it!) He chose to continue with the eye from the angle where he lost an eye. He enjoyed researching cult leaders and noted they usually have a big aesthetic choice like white hair.

• the glasses are his. Xavier Woods told him "you look like a cult leader" so he kept them for Dark Father.

• Returns to the idea of easter eggs / layers. Notes his promos were often not his writing. Talks about the MITB promo on AJ where he stepped out of the dark - "fuck it, I'm gonna do what I wanna do" and everyone loved it.

• "Don't get mad at our creative" says they try super hard and are good, creative people. Mentions "Bruce" (Pritchard, I'm assuming) as going to bat for him. The opinion was "no one moves like him, no one is intense like him". "In the last 5 years I have proven myself to be one of the most influential strikers of my generation".

• "It's bittersweet - I owe everything to WWE. My prior work got me to the dance, but the last two years were a slow death". Talks about how the ratings were good, people found him very "Intriguing" - he kept creating stories, characters and gimmicks. He told Hunter "I want to be the metal bands kids use to rebel against their parents".

• Side note - listening to Black cuss is a riot. He seems really chill and really well adjusted.

• There is apparently a group of people who think he's a part of the illuminati and that he sacrifices kids. He's researched conspiracies and how they spread, so is stoked that people think he's legitimately a satanist / illuminati (not the same thing) kid murderer. The said his tattoos on his arms are a sign that he's a kiddie murderer. Apparently WWE shut down a social channel throwing accusations at him when they called him a pedophile.

• The Dark Father was based on his life. "I'm an athiest - I can't acknowledge a devil without a God, it doesn't make sense"

• Loves Manny (Andrade) - wasn't happy with his debut but the two found ways to build up from it. After the match with Dream a lot of people took notice, so he was given complete freedom to do his own match after that. He proved he can take other people to the next level, so was fastforwarded to the main roster. The last 3/4 months in tag with Ricochet were "probably, professionally, some of my favourite moments in wrestling". Talks about how they did NXT and main roster all week, but they had a ton of fun and learned so much because they were so well oiled.

• "If there's no cuffs and you can do anything, that's one thing. But if you have boundaries and rules, and can still shine, that's the testimony of being a professional". Talks about The Revival (calls them "the Pinnacle" now) says they think the same way, uphold rules, etc because it forces creativity. He says he always enjoyed challenging himself. "It's really made me into a much better (I can say it again!) Professional wrestler"

• Said that frequently, times in matches changed up, and down and that he loved working on the fly to figure a match out. "WWE is just a crazy, crazy landscape". Says he could sit and mope, but what's the point? this angle was apparently the big push. But it's an "ever lasting, fluctuating business" so can't be mad. Namechecks Orton, Wyatt, Roman, Pritchard, Vince, Heyman.

• "Roman Reigns - one of the best fucking locker room leaders on earth. What a guy". Usos too! Shouts out Apollo for just smashing his character work.

• Side note - Fuck, he talks a million miles an hour and my hands hurt.

• Would have loved to work with Bray, says he fights really hard for his stuff because they constantly try to change it.

• Referenced a vignette about the eye on his instagram, offered it to WWE, they said it was super creative and awesome, but it got worked against. "What murdered me was the 7 months at home". "Don't listen to journalists, they don't have insiders, they get told warped stories". Apparently he was praised for asking to go to NXT, but Vince wanted to try him again on the main roster. "Don't waste your money on it. It's 5% truth, 95% fiction". Goes off on how paid wrestling journalists suck "I get it, negativity sells". Says it puts fans in a shit position, because it's your closest source of news, but it's mostly bullshit. Says it programs fans to hate WWE. Sometimes it's right "A broken clock is right twice a day" - also shouts out "oh, "plans changed" is the biggest cop out in the world" . Also seemingly SRS -" "oh, sign up to my patreon for news about Thea" - there is no news." Mentions also "Asuka storms out of WWE Raw" when in fact she just went to the next town.

• Says he sat down with Hunter a couple of times to put the fire under the character, didn't want to come back as a heel. "I love everything about this business. It's the single best thing (along side marrying my wife) that I've ever done in my life and it's a process many people can't understand". Says the audience sees 2% of their work.

• Says even today, he's been working. Clothing company, talking to fans - it never stops. For 20 years, he's never not once thought about wrestling. He's considering opening a wrestling school, apparently it's in process already. Wants to leave the wrestling world in a better place than he found it.

• Says he just spoke to Terry Taylor, who he credits as one of the most influential men in his career and a mentor. "I've had moments where... I'm not the most active on social media, I rarely look at comments, I think about 6-7 months ago when someone went off, he thought "I'll pay for your flight, you come hang out for three days, you'll go home screaming". " Says that the fanbase appreciates what they do and who they are, and he's really thankful for it.

• Says with lockdown too many people have too much time on their hands and are focused on the wrong things (talking about internet fans). Says he hopes people find a healthy focus or positive thing to focus on. Emphasises personal responsibility, says "don't wake up 20 years from now wondering why you spent so fucking long arguing with people on the internet about wrestling" says that all of your potential on earth is great.

OK - I'm tapping out, as it's been nearly an hour - someone else can tag in with a part 2, maybe!

Thanks to for rounding off the last points:

Some quick updates:

-Said he was to win the US title but Vince changed it because he felt Black shouldn't win his first title without a crowd

-Said he just got new music and he's sad it didn't get to be used yet

-Sad about the other releases, felt very surprised by Braun being released, paraphrasing but says he thinks Lana will land on her feet

In layman's terms, Owens refused to go. Basically, Owens was asked by his family not to go and that was it. Dave said there's no heat on him when he told them he wasn't going.

For Black, it was concerns by WWE around his tattoos and the heavy religious theme around them.

Dave talks about it the 1hr 06 min mark of today's WOR during a mailbag question.

He also mentioned months ago that the 2 people most in danger of getting depushed with Heyman gone were Andrade and Aleister Black and it did turn out this way. Both weren't even part of the Survivor Series pre-show battle royal.

He noted that Aleister Black feels forgotten by creative and the people in charge.

Source:

When I met him at Wrestlemania Axxess it was right after his first figure had been released. I asked him if he knew how much of a frenzy the action figure world was in because of his figure. He knew! He also informed me that he refused to autograph any for fans because the moment he got his figure he autographed it and gave it to his Mom.

Fast forward a few years later and now he’s doing his first post- WWE autograph signing. There’s a disclaimer on the website that he will autograph all merchandise EXCEPT his first action figure, the NXT Takeover figure. The same one that he gave to his Mom.

There is only one autographed NXT Takeover Aleister Black figure in the world, and it belongs to his Mother and he is not breaking that rule for anyone!

Aleister Black wins via Black Mass

While not a done deal, and it can’t be until 8/31, the strong belief is that Tom Budgen, the former Aleister Black, is headed here, although there has been talk in WWE that the company made a mistake in cutting him and may make him an offer to return, so that could change the equation.

Everything seemed so simple at first.

Cody was having a great feud with Aleister, and PAC was having a feud with Andrade. Aleister and Andrade are friends, and since both feuds needed a new dynamic, it seemed to make perfect sense to have them wrestle in a tag match at Full Gear. Solid booking that told a story and connected a few great wrestlers, what can go wrong right?

Well it turns out everything can go wrong, as now (in your time) the FTR + Lucha Bros feud has been merged in. By combining feuds, AEW has begun a neverending spiral of additional feuds that will continue to magnify and multiply until it consumes the entire promotion, then the entire industry, then the entire world.

It goes like this:

• This Wednesday will be the turning point for the future of humanity. Cody, PAC, and the Lucha Bros are going to tag against Aleister, PAC, and FTR. This is the "Skynet merges with humanity" moment that everyone was trying to stop during Terminator 2.

• Why is this match so important? Because during this match, a big brawl breaks out, and the Superkliq jump to help beat the crap out of the Lucha Bros and get revenge for losing the titles. This in turn inspires Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Christian to join the fray.

• Tony Khan will then announce a MAJOR 7 v 7 tag match for Dynamite the next week. This announcement is known in my time as "the last time mankind was able to celebrate" because we were still so innocent then and just thought we'd get a bunch of good wrestlers. We were so, so, damn foolish.

• During the 7 v 7 match, Cody's team (Now known as The Nation of Rhodes, as 1/2 of humanity has deemed to name themselves) will get some unexpected support from The Dark Order. Aleister's team (Now known as The World of Black, for House Black supporters want all to cease existing and I mean ALL of them even like grandmothers and nurses and shit, it's really crazy), will be backed up by Team Taz.

• Then, a 11 v 11 match gets made. The rest of the Nightmare Family jumps in, and so does The Nightmare Factor. On to a 15 v 15. Then, the Gunn Club and Best Friends get involved. Then the Wingmen, then the Hardy Family Office, and on and on and on until AEW's shows are 95% just the tag match battle of the week.

• The only saving grace in this is that the company's singular women's matches are still upheld on every show. That all falls to bits however, when in early January, Jade Cargill interferes the weekly 40 v 40 tag match and starts powerbombing everyone. Suddenly, the women are involved, and so is the Women's title and TBS Championships. It is too late for AEW. AEW has been consumed. The feud is all there is.

• For a little while, we mourn AEW. It's trapped in its constant gang power struggle, and people actually begin to try to shift their focus on other companies. But then, a simple, incendiary tweet from Top Dolla (who gets reinstated and returns in time to win the Royal Rumble), sets everything apart.

• What does Top Dolla say? Top Dolla says "AEW sucks WWE's the best LOL," and then the world just flat out falls into anarchy.

• The next week on Raw, the AEW roster invades. Both factions overwhelm WWE's now-depleted roster due to all the releases, and the WWE roster is forced to pick sides. Rhodes or Black? Those that don't face deletion. The warfare is all there is.

• The fans don't like this. Desperate to keep the tribalism from the AEW and WWE days alive, fanboys everywhere clamor to join the battle. The only problem is, the sides are so merged, they don't know which one is which. A lot of the WWE fans side with Aleister, since they view him as a "WWE original" unlike Cody. But it really doesn't matter, because soon EVERYONE gets involved.

• What do I mean by EVERYONE? I mean EVERYONE. Suddenly, all politics and social issues all convene on one simple question: Rhodes or Black? Each week, more and more civilians join the fray, squabbling for a place in the crowded aprons in the decimated, overused ring. The battle never ceases. International politics and concerns don't matter. The war is all there is, there is nothing more to humanity, to pro wrestling, or to Top Dolla's WrestleMania headlining potential.

WrestleMania is coming in my time. It's now being advertised as "The most STUPENDOUS two-night apocalyptic warfare event in history!" The battle lines are drawn. Humanity is scheduled to meet at the Tokyo Dome for the final battle. The only, neutral observer left in the warfare is Dave Meltzer, who has been arguing that the matches STILL should be longer and that humanity should at least wait until SummerSlam to converge on itself to "let the story build more," but even his cries of reason are too late. The fight is all there is, and all we can do is hope to stop it.

So please, for the sake of humanity, don't let the Nation of Rhodes and World of Black wrestle in that 8 man tag this week. I hope that your version of mankind will be different than mine, more noble, more patient, and more accepting of others. But the last few months have taught me that hope is for fools, and that's why I'm on Reddit, where hope is but a dream at best. It is in that dream and in that hope that I pray we will all find guidance, for we need it, we so dearly need it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to change into my vintage Legacy t-shirt to prove my loyalty to Lord Cody and finally squash those Nation of Black heathens once and for all.

Avenge us, or save us, or something.