Aleister Black Reveals Real Reason For Missing Saudi WWE PLE
Aleister Black has denied the rumors about why he missed WWE’s Royal Rumble PLE in Saudi Arabia.
The 2026 WWE Royal Rumble PLE took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first time in company history. While fans usually enjoy the Royal Rumble matches, there were also complaints about wrestlers who didn’t participate in the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches.
One of the names who wasn’t in the Men’s Royal Rumble was Aleister Black. There have been rumors over the years that the reason Black missed past WWE shows in Saudi Arabia is due to issues that Saudi Arabian people had with some of his tattoos.
Black, who had a long feud with Damian Priest on the SmackDown, is married to Zelina, and the couple was paired together on the blue brand during that rivalry. After the Priest rivalry ended, Blask has been trying to play mind games with the legendary Randy Orton.
In an interview with The Stunner about his current WWE run, Aleister Black claimed that his rivalry with Orton was a reason why he was kept out of the Rumble match, and not because of tattoos.
“No, that’s not true. I was supposed to be in the Rumble, but they were planning to start a story between me and Randy.
I felt like if we started that in the Rumble, it would get lost in everything going on. We didn’t want it to be something where we’re just two guys getting thrown out and the story goes to waste. So we decided it would be better to save it for the weeks to come.”
Aleister Black Admits That His Tattoos Were A Subject In The Past
During Aleister Black’s first run on the WWE roster in the late 2010s, he dealt with the tattoo story regarding WWE’s Saudi Arabian shows.
“When the Saudi Arabia shows first began years ago, my tattoos did come up in conversation. That’s a fact. At that time there was concern about how people there might react. That was about five years ago, and it was something I talked about with Vince (McMahon).
But that’s not really an issue anymore. The last time I was on TV with R-Truth, even though the segment was small, I was still shown clearly on television. My arms were exposed, the side of my head was visible, and you could see my tattoos. So I think people just assumed the old concern was still the reason now, but that wasn’t the case.”
On WWE SmackDown in Portland, Aleister Black and Zelina spoke to Sami Zayn after Zayn spoke with Randy Orton. It looks like perhaps Black could be playing mind games with Zayn just like he’s done with Priest and Orton in the past.