Latest Reports on Aleister Black's WWE Status

WWE officially released Zelina Vega from her contract back on Nov. 13. As soon as that news broke, many fans began to speculate over the status of Aleister Black, Vega's real-life husband. The former NXT Champion hasn't wrested since he was drafted to SmackDown back in October and reports that he asked to be moved back to NXT quickly popped up following the Vega news.

Dave Meltzer offered an update on Black during the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, stating his lack of appearances on television had nothing to do with Vega. Instead, Meltzer explained that none of the higher-ups in the company "see anything in Black" now that Paul Heyman is no longer in his role as the executive director of Monday Night Raw. During his tenure, Heyman booked Black on a months-long winning streak, one that unceremoniously ended not long after Heyman was relieved of his position. Meltzer added that, at one point, Heyman thought so highly of Black that he was in the running for defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 alongside Drew McIntyre.

Black turned heel over the summer and began a program with Kevin Owens, one that resulted in the latter winning three consecutive matches prior to the Draft. Throughout that time Black began changing different aspects of his character, particularly his entrance, and stated in an interview with ComicBook that the transformation was still ongoing.

"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 explained. "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."

What do you think should be Black's next step in his career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!