During an interview with The Stunner, Aleister Black addressed speculation surrounding his absence from the Royal Rumble in January.
The former NXT Champion was brought to Saudi Arabia but ultimately did not appear at the Rumble event itself, leading to rumors that he was not allowed to appear due to his tattoos, which includes art of demons.
Black refuted such rumors, explaining the absence had to do with his ongoing storyline with Randy Orton:
I was supposed to be in the Rumble, but then they were going to start myself and Randy, and I felt like, man, if we are going to do that story and we’re going to start in the Royal Rumble, it’s just going to get snowed under. And we don’t want it to just go to waste for them to just be two guys that are being dumped out or anything like that. So why don’t we save it for the weeks to come?
He went on to address where the tattoo situation did come into play at one stage in his WWE career, during his previous WWE run:
I think the initial setup of Saudi Arabia, my tattoos did come in question. That is absolute fact. In the initial setting, it was definitely like, ‘Well, we don’t know how they are going to respond.’ I’m talking five years ago when it all first started. That was definitely a conversation at the time I had with Vince [McMahon] and also was brought to me. But that is no longer the case.
Black referenced his appearance in June 2025 on SmackDown for a segment with R-Truth, in which he was seen on screen in his “full presentation” including tattoos, but is grateful that fans took notice of such things.
Again, I always see those things or hear about those things, and I always consider it to be coming from a place of genuine care from fans, which I always appreciate. Because it’s a good thing, right? It’s good to know that fans care. It’s always good to know that people care.
Source: F4WOnline