Aleister Black Discusses Maintaining Character Continuity Across WWE and AEW – Aleister Black, who has wrestled under the name Malakai Black in AEW, recently spoke with The Sportster about the importance of character continuity across different promotions. Black, known for his dark, layered persona and visual storytelling, explained that maintaining the essence of his character—even when switching companies—is a crucial aspect of his creative process.
When asked about how fun it is to keep his character consistent despite moving between WWE and AEW, Black responded:
“Yeah, well, I think that’s the right way of putting it. I felt that I was cheating myself if I wouldn’t do that. You know, it happens somewhere, and I feel like, for me, it was important enough to carry over with me and carry some of the anger of that character over with me as well, which is where I based that part of the character on.”
He continued by emphasizing the artistic elements involved in developing and evolving his persona:
“I like doing stuff like that, because for me as a professional wrestler, that’s where the art lies as well, like the creative side of it. It’s not just the wrestling or being creative inside the wrestling. It’s the character, the things that I can do, the small little details, things that I can change in my leather jackets, or like communicating with the lady who makes my jackets, Hannah Horse, go follow her on Instagram. Her and me are always kind of like collaborating on a lot of stuff and she comes up with a lot of really cool stuff. She’s really dedicated and she really follows up with my character in a really great way. So her and me is like a really good connection.”
Black also spoke about the symbolism in his gear, including the masks and robes, and how even the smallest visual choices tie back into his broader narrative—even if fans aren’t meant to understand them right away:
“So when it comes to details, even with the masks and stuff like that, when I speak to like Candy and we kind of start putting these masks together or Ivan, when we put these masks together, there’s always something in there that I want to present to the fans that I don’t necessarily have to explain just yet, but maybe five, six years down the line…”
He then teased a long-term project for fans who enjoy deeper insight into his character:
“…I was talking yesterday that I’m trying to create a coffee book where all the masks are in and all the robes are in, all the jackets are in, where we kind of like, get a little bit more into detail and stuff like that, where I can kind of like reveal a little bit more of that. So it’s very important to me.”
Black’s dedication to the smallest aspects of his presentation—from the stitching on his gear to the emotion behind his promos—demonstrates a rare level of detail in modern wrestling character work. His comments make it clear that he sees wrestling as a true form of artistic expression, one that extends far beyond the ring.
Aleister Black Discusses Maintaining Character Continuity Across WWE and AEW
