WWE’s use of Aleister Black had its fair share of good moments before completely failing him to end the run. The start of his time in AEW as Malakai Black sees him in a major program against Cody Rhodes after attacking Cody and Arn Anderson. Fans are already interested in his new character after things in WWE ended with a lot of confusion.
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Black appeared to be a future main event star in WWE coming off his NXT stint. Unfortunately, the support of multiple important minds backstage wasn’t enough for him to get over the hump. Many of the best talents to get underutilized by WWE have a few horror stories in the booking. Black had quite a few moments of WWE failing him and never reaching his potential.
8 Getting Thrown Off WWE Headquarters Roof
The cinematic style of the 2020 Money in the Bank ladder match featured wrestlers fighting all over WWE headquarters. Both male and female competitors fought in every room for entertainment value before reaching the top of the building where the ring was located.
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WWE tried to go the shock route by having Aleister Black thrown off the roof by Baron Corbin. Black and Rey Mysterio were each thrown off but returned the next night with the explanation that there was another level below that just resulted in pain. An argument can be made that Black deserved the win the most, but he was instead greeted with an embarrassing moment.
7 Confusing Main Roster Call-Up
WWE wanted to shake things up in early 2019 by having a few of the top NXT stars appear on Raw and SmackDown. Aleister Black, Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa were all on the bigger shows at the same time.
Gargano and Ciampa returned to NXT and had a relatively short stint while Black and Ricochet remained on the Raw brand. WWE didn’t bother explaining what the logic was behind this and fans were left wondering which call-ups were full-time instead of locking into a program.
6 Not Adding Story To Feud With Murphy
The era of Paul Heyman running Raw led to him wanting to invest in new talents. Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy were two of the younger stars Heyman wanted to give more time to in hopes of them breaking out for him.
The matches between the two always delivered and provided compelling in-ring action. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a story between them. Competition can work as the main aspect of wrestling, but Black winning every match meant a deeper story was needed and lacked.
5 Heel Turn With Eye Injury
Aleister Black was one of the wrestlers to suffer an eye injury against Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy during their time together as heels. The return of Black didn’t see him seeking revenge against his former enemies but instead showing a new side.
Black turned heel by kicking Kevin Owens to start a program between the two. Owens won all the matches since he was higher on the totem pole. WWE didn’t add enough layers to Black’s return other than him having a darker side with the injury.
4 Uneventful NXT Championship Reign
The NXT Championship win of Aleister Black was arguably the biggest accomplishment of his career. Black loved his time on the smaller brand and was a fan favorite. The win over Andrade for the title should have led to a huge run.
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Things went relatively poorly when Black’s first TakeOver defense was against the lackluster Lars Sullivan. NXT decided to have Black drop the belt to Tommaso Ciampa on NXT TV in one of the least uneventful title changes before he could do anything cool with it.
3 Removing Him From AJ Styles/Undertaker Program
Fans thought Aleister Black may have had a role in the AJ Styles vs Undertaker program during WrestleMania 36 season. Black was the one feuding with Styles when Undertaker returned to cost AJ a singles match ahead of WM.
Styles having Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in his corner made the audience wonder if Black would benefit from being someone at Undertaker’s side. WWE didn’t use him at all in the feud and just went with Undertaker overcoming the odds in a cinematic match against Styles.
2 Ending Tag Team With Ricochet
WWE accidentally found something cool with the tag team of Ricochet and Aleister Black. The unlikely duo teamed up during their main roster debuts and for the end of their NXT time. Both wrestlers were drastically different but found unique chemistry together.
Black and Ricochet delivered great matches competing against teams like The Revival, The Usos, and Chad Gable & Bobby Roode. WWE decided to split them up after a few months due to the draft, but neither man was pushed hard as a singles star. Black revealed this was the best time of his career and he wanted to team with Ricochet longer.
1 Not Playing Out Big E Feud
WWE spent weeks building up the Aleister Black return with cryptic backstage vignettes about his new character. The big return came in the SmackDown main event for the Intercontinental Championship involving Big E, Apollo Crews, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn.
Black appeared when Big E was in control and leveled him with a kick to help Apollo retain. The feud was set up, but Black didn’t appear the following week and was released due to budget cuts. WWE invested all that time into doing nothing with Black’s return. The character he wanted to try is now being showcased in AEW after WWE helped introduce it.
