Aleister Black ‘Very Grateful’ for Not Making His WWE Return as Randy Orton’s Surprise Opponent at WrestleMania 41

Aleister Black has finally revealed that he was indeed discussed for a spot at this year's WrestleMania against Randy Orton.

Aleister Black ‘Very Grateful’ for Not Making His WWE Return as Randy Orton’s Surprise Opponent at WrestleMania 41

Randy Orton and Aleister Black [via- WWE]

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It’s been just over 7 months since Aleister Black made his return to WWE. It happened on SmackDown after WrestleMania 41, which didn’t sit well with many fans as they questioned the rationale behind WWE deciding against having Black back at ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’. Who better than the wrestler in question himself to answer it?

The erstwhile Malakai Black talked about the backstage conversations in WWE about figuring out the perfect time and place for the Dutch wrestler to be reinstated on WWE programming. Speaking on the WrestleRant podcast, the 40-year-old confirmed the rumors of the company considering him as one of the options for Randy Orton‘s mystery opponent at WrestleMania.

However, the idea got counter-argued rather quickly, as the higher-ups didn’t want Black to lose to Orton on the night of his big return to the company. The Amsterdam-born grappler said he’s very grateful for the fact that WWE didn’t allow his moment to get outshined in the luster of The Viper’s 20th WrestleMania anniversary.

Black would show up on the April 25 edition of SmackDown to wipe out The Miz. But despite a strong initial presentation, WWE failed to follow up with a credible feud for ‘The Striking Man from Amsterdam’. Black did get himself engaged in a rivalry with Damian Priest in recent months. Though it wasn’t prohibitively a home run, so to speak, it led to Zelina Vega‘s on-screen pairing with the former AEW star.

What convinced Triple H to give the green light for the pairing of Aleister Black and Zelina Vega?

The prospect of Zelina Vega joining her husband as an on-screen couple was years in the making. As revealed by Aleister Black in an interview with Sports Illustrated, the inaugural Queen’s Crown tournament winner was originally planned to join forces with Black when he was doing the Dark Father gimmick during the Thunderdome era.

Triple H didn't initially agree to Aleister Black and Zelina Vega pairing
Triple H didn’t initially agree to Aleister Black and Zelina Vega’s pairing [via- WWE]

But Black got released by WWE shortly after in a stupefying decision that irked the fans. The conversations to use Vega with Black picked up once again after Black’s return to WWE this year. ‘The Harbinger of Fury’, however, divulged that WWE CCO Triple H wasn’t high on the idea at first.

However, with the recent mixed tag team feud featuring two real-life couples, namely CM Punk & AJ Lee and Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch, leaving fans impressed with their natural chemistry, ‘Hunter’ gave the nod to Black and Vega as well.

After it seemed like the ex-AEW star’s differences with Damian Priest were settled, he segued into a short-term feud with Cody Rhodes and declared his intentions of chasing the Undisputed WWE title.

Black and Rhodes had a non-title match on SmackDown a few weeks ago, which ended in a disqualification when Drew McIntyre attacked the match referee. McIntyre and Black ganged up on Rhodes until Priest evened the odds.

It appeared like things were headed towards a tag team match among those men. However, with the WarGames build in full effect, Black is nowhere to be found of late. It’d be interesting to see if he’d pick up from where he left off after Survivor Series this weekend.

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