Aleister Black on Developing His New Heel Persona, Changing Up His Iconic Entrance

For the first time since arriving in WWE, Aleister Black made the switch into becoming a heel wrestler back on Aug. 24 when he maliciously attacked Kevin Owens during a "The Kevin Owens Show" segment. In the weeks since then Black has only had a few chances to explain himself, which usually breaks down into a brawl with the former Universal Champion. In a new interview with ComicBook on Friday, Black explained that turning heel was something he personally wanted to do and that fans have only seen a glimpse of what's on the way.

"I think it was long overdue. I just think that I had a conversation with the Undertaker a while ago, where he said that eventually, you're going to run into moments where fans need a more humane side, so they can latch onto a little bit more, so that you open yourself up a little bit more for a human emotion that people can latch onto and have a little bit more of an understanding," Black said. "Even if that understanding is not necessarily a positive reason, there needs to be a moment where people can go like, 'I understand him.' I think that we drifted away from the character too far at one point, that people were confused as to what it is that Aleister Black was and what he was all about, so the character change needed to come. And this was also something that I addressed with them and it was agreed upon, hence the character change.

"We're still in the stages of producing it a little bit because it didn't go the way that it was supposed to go, but we got a lot of it out, but not everything and so we're still steering that ship at the moment," he added. "I was really excited for it and I hope that with the coming weeks we can create something that has a lot more relatable content to it."

One of the most noticeable changes following the heel turn was the removal of Black's "Root of All Evil" entrance theme and arrival via candles, smoke and a rising platform. Fans cried foul when they first saw the removal, but Black says they haven't seen the full replacement quite yet.

"No, they were supposed to replace the other things, but they were not ready in time," Black explained. "They will be, they will come either this Monday or another Monday. But the presentation of that new character entrance-wise was not the one that you saw last week. There were a few things changed and they will change in due time and there will be a full presentation that will substitute the platform, that will substitute certain elements about the previous entrance."

Black assured that despite the changes to his entrance, ring gear and in-ring style, he's not giving up the Black Mass as his finisher.

"That's not going to change. That thing is my move," Aleister Black said. "That's just never going to change. That is RKO to my Randy Orton, basically. You know what I mean? That is the Leg Drop to my Hogan, that's the Rock Bottom to my Dwayne Johnson. That thing sticks with me. That is who I am. Will I implement different things? Absolutely, but I will always come back to the Black Mass."

Black will take on Owens in a No Disqualification on this week's Monday Night Raw. Both men will also be in the draft pool of available Superstars during Night Two of the 2020 WWE Draft.

This week's Raw begin at 8 p.m. ET on Monday Night on the USA Network.