Aleister Black Discusses Trust For Triple H And WWE Creative Process [Exclusive]

Patience is a virtue.

Surely that's a phrase you've heard at least once before. It expresses the admirable trait of being able to navigate hardship, of varying degrees and lengths, calmly and without frustration.

It's the very mindset that Aleister Black has adopted since returning to WWE back in April. While some fans may feel a level of disappointment that he's not currently in a more prominent position on Friday Night SmackDown, Black is able to find reward in the sweat equity that he believes will eventually help him accomplish his major career goals.

"That's the only way to do it," Black told The Takedown on SI. "I obviously very much appreciate that fans want this process to be sped up. We live in a society where it's instant gratification, and the second you start doing instant gratification is the second you're gonna lose a lot. And people often don't realize that subconsciously they love the struggle."

Black says fans may not always enjoy the finish line, but the emotional connection earned along that long road to the destination is paramount for a journey's success.

The responsibility of getting Aleister Black and his loyal fanbase to their desired booking level falls upon WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque. Someone who earned Black's trust years ago while they collaborated in NXT.

"Hunter and I have always had a good working relationship. NXT Aleister Black was a cooperation between him and me, where I would pitch an idea and he would kind of flesh it out better," Black said. "Right now, that is just happening on a grand scale, and it's been very rewarding."

While Levesque is said to be very open to Black's ideas, he's also a firm believer in his own vision and will not hesitate to shut down something he doesn't like.

"Sometimes he'll have something in his head, and as with everything I've done with him, you have to trust the process. Just because you're not immediately there at the end of the road doesn't mean that the road we're taken is the wrong one. We're gonna get there and that's something that I had to learn back in the day. Now that I'm back, it's just getting back on that bicycle and trusting the process along the way."

As we covered last week, Levesque was initially against the idea of pairing Aleister Black and Zelina Vega together on television. Which also goes to show that a suggestion can grow on him.

The WWE Hall of Famer has often used the analogy of punching in coordinates on a GPS device and then figuring out the best path to a particular destination as a way to describe his creative process.

Unforeseen obstacles can always arise, which may cause some goalposts to be shifted, but the overall vision remains intact. It's the ability to adapt on a week-to-week basis that will ultimately prove if certain objectives are attainable.

"You have broad brush strokes as to where we're trying to get, but that doesn't always mean that the painting is as fine line and finished as people sometimes wanna believe," Black said. "It's a very difficult process and it takes a lot of due diligence and patience and reevaluating the route you're taking. Criticizing yourself and then asking yourself, are we doing the right thing right now? And that has always been a difficult process, I think, for fans to understand."

Black and Zelina Vega are in the very early stages of their on-screen partnership, but if their creative direction is half as alluring as their aesthetic, then the sky may truly be the limit for this new necessary evil on SmackDown.

Aleister Black and Zelina Vega could be a major force on Friday Night SmackDown

alwaysourplan . . . pic.twitter.com/LKu27TfMOm
— ZV (@ZelinaVegaWWE) October 29, 2025

These next several weeks, however, could be vital for the real-life couple. It may seem so far away right now, but planning for WrestleMania season is typically underway by now.

If and when Aleister Black steps out onto the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas this April, it will mark his first 'Showcase of the Immortals' in front of a live audience since 2019. Something that has been on the forefront of his mind since he made the decision to come back to WWE.

"That's the goal. And then the goal is to be on every pay-per-view. And then the goal is to go to championship one and championship two. And I think if you don't realistically put yourself there mentally, then you need to find a way to put yourself there mentally."

WrestleMania 42, the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, Black has his sights set on taking part in as many marquee matches as possible in 2026 and beyond. And not just participating in them, but coming out victorious.

In Vegas... it's anyone's game.

2-day combo tickets for #WrestleMania 42 on April 18 & 19 Allegiant Stadium are on sale NOW!

🎟️: https://t.co/bVHRyGjVP9 pic.twitter.com/GHS1LI3Bpb
— WWE (@WWE) November 4, 2025

The biggest win of Black's current run with WWE came just a few weeks ago when he defeated Damian Priest in a Last Man Standing Match in Perth, Australia, the very night that Zelina Vega aligned herself with her husband.

Black remembers a conversation he had with Triple H after that SmackDown main event that made him realize a change of perspective on his professional wrestling career, especially when compared to where he was one year ago.

"It makes you rethink everything that you're doing and every choice. And it makes you feel very grateful for being able to get these opportunities," Black said. "I'm 40 years-old and I got re-signed when I was 39, but here we are in better shape, better mindset, better attitude, and doing, slowly but surely, bigger and better things than [I've] ever done before."

Don't miss part three of our conversation with Aleister Black, which will drop next Friday, November 14 here on The Takedown on SI.

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