Triple H Didn’t Initially Like Current WWE Storyline

Triple H wasn’t a fan of a current on-screen partnership.

After weeks of teasers, Aleister Black made his WWE return on the April 25 edition of SmackDown. The star had spent the previous four years with AEW, but he’d been expected to return to WWE for several months.

In the weeks after his big comeback, Black beat The Miz and Carmelo Hayes before beginning a feud with Damian Priest.

Things eventually came to a head on October 10 when the pair met in a Last Man Standing Match. The battle was eventually won by Black after his real-life wife, Zelina Vega, launched a fireball into Priest’s face.

Despite the couple having been married since 2018, this was the first time they’d worked together on-screen.

Triple H Needed To Reconsider

During an interview with Rick Ucchino of Sports Illustrated, Black revealed that he and Vega initially came close to working together in 2021, shortly before his release. He explained that his final storyline and character would have seen Vega join him, but he left the company before things got that far.

“We started shooting little vignettes for it, and we started creating outfits for it,” he said. “That first mask that I ever wore when I worked with [AEW] was actually one of the masks that was utilized. If you remember the Dark Father character that was at the end of my initial run [with WWE], that would eventually see my wife joining me… that was one of the pitches.”

When he returned to WWE in April, Black said that he brought up the topic of working with Vega once again, but Triple H wasn’t at all keen. However, after CM Punk teamed with AJ Lee to face Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins, Black said The Game began to change his mind.

“When I got back, the conversation arose again and initially [Triple H] was not really into it. But I think that with the success of AJ [Lee] and CM Punk, and Seth and Becky, I think that he kinda went like, you know what, this might actually really, really work,” he said.

“He was completely sold on it and he really liked it. And then it kind of started building from there [during] those last two, three weeks. Where we’re now looking at the presentation that you saw last week, and slowly but surely we’re adding elements. This is a work in progress.”

On the October 24 episode of SmackDown, Aleister Black challenged Ilja Dragunov for the United States Championship, but he was ultimately unsuccessful.

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