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I don’t know about you, but I’ve found a lot to relate to in Aleister Black. The eye test certainly won’t lend credence to that. He’s physically gifted, I rode the pine in JV basketball. He questions the existence of a higher power, I’m a guilt-ridden lapsed Catholic. He grew up in Amsterdam, I a two-stoplight town in bohunk Pennsylvania. Hell, the closest I’ve come to having ink on my body is when my long de-capped Bic pen in my work apron explodes. Tomato, tahmata. But there is one big aspect of our lives that cross, as I’m sure it does for many of you.
Aleister Black’s inner conflict
Black, at least for me, symbolized the constant struggle within oneself, the road of good and evil. What was truly intriguing is that Aleister always erred on the side of good even his if appearance, his body language and his killer finisher all spoke otherwise. The actual Black goes through his own struggles as well. Anxiety and depression all has and continues to haunt him, but despite that, he carries on. He continues to fight against everyone’s greatest enemy: fear. The guy doesn’t look or act like most, but qualities like that are what makes someone special. Someone their own individual. Something that the main roster isn’t the greatest at executing. See RAW two weeks ago as exhibit A.
Since his roster debut, we’ve gotten barely a breath of the mysterious Black with how WWE has positioned the Dutch Destroyer. All fans have been given to his background is what Cole has been scripted to say by 73-year old Vince McMahon (like “Dutch Destroyer,” for instance). What’s mysterious about that? Putting Black and Ricochet in a hodge podge alliance isn’t putting these guys on a level above anybody else, it’s putting them on level with everyone else.
Aleister Black still has the capability to reach to a viewer. WWE just needs to let him live outside the house that Vince McMahon built to shelter the homogenized RAW and SmackDown. He’s not made for those cookie cutter apartment complexes (a lot of talent needs to move out of them honestly.) They have to give him the hammer and nails to build his own candle-lit shed that houses him. Make the roster visit him. Make him invade the roster. He’s not a resident. He’s a mystery. Someone you can’t pin down.
Jim Ross gave Aleister Black some sound advice after his first night on RAW. “Aggression will always be your ‘ace.’ #MaximizeYourMinutes”. Black acknowledged those words. That aggression equals the aforementioned inner conflict and what makes Aleister such an interest. One that could help the company brand in a big way right now. “Fresh” is a word Cody Rhodes used to describe what AEW is searching for right now and Black makes that sell-by date for WWE by a landslide. The good thing is? He’s theirs. They just have to take him out of the fridge and let him simmer on the skillet before they spoil it for everyone.
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