Aleister Black Reveals What Drew Him To Wrestling, Cites Hayabusa as One of His Early Favorites

During a recent interview with Popternative, WWE Superstar Aleister Black discussed what drew him to pro wrestling, citing the late wrestler Hayabusa as one of his early favorites. Below are some highlights:

Aleister Black on What Drew Him to Wrestling

“No, I was always especially coming from Europe, like the style was very much more methodical, more technically driven, you know, thinking about like the British like style of wrestling and the European catch style, which was much more grappling orientated and coming from a martial arts background myself. You know, growing up, I watched New Japan predominantly because we didn’t have WWE back in Amsterdam. So my exposure was also more towards the Japanese style of wrestling, a Japanese wrestler. I will say that one of my first favorites was Hayabusa, who is obviously a very like aesthetically driven character and has a very exciting, you know, high-energy style. But the the correlation of like the super aesthetics and that very drivenness of almost an art-like form did actually come more from music and me infusing what I you know perceived as like you know things like black metal and stuff like that and like hardcore and the occult into my fusion of professional wrestling that kind of came more from that and it’s like pre this conversation we had a short talk where you know like I said like it’s kind of where these why they coincide with each other so much in terms of like music and wrestling um it lives together and for me those elements in particular came more from the music than the wrestling itself because again I wasn’t used to the high octane show that WWE was at the time as I started and it didn’t come in until like much much later. So for me, that came more from music at first before seeing it unfold in like the WCWs and the WWEs.”

On Balancing Characters and Storylines in Wrestling

“I think the balance has been well, not maybe not the balance, but what the trick has been is that if I shifted within, like whether it was a different company or or like a different character or like persona A being more considered quote unquote a good guy or a bad guy, is that I could not make them depart from one another. I could not neglect or move away from the essence of what made you know character A likable for the fans, and at the same time, they had to be removed enough for people to rebel against it if that was the you know the prerogative. In recent years, I have come to the conclusion that yes, there is, you know, a bad guy and a good guy, but there is nuances to it, whereas there is going to be fans that will completely side with what we perceive to be the quote-unquote bad guy, and obviously,y the same goes for the good guys. So in terms of like good versus bad, it’s kind of like, you know, whatever dispositions you have. So what I would say isn’t necessarily always in the eyes of the beholder the more wicked thing to say. So it’s a very nuanced thing now, where yes, there is a perceived good and bad guy, but still, there is a conviction rate for people in regard to what they perceive as good or bad, depending on what their moral ground is. though it’s it’s a very different approach nowadays with how we cut promos or how we infuse elements in the character, because there’s going to be part of the crowd that says, ‘Oh, you know, absolutely not. This guy is an a-hole.’ And then there’s going to be a part of the crowd that’s going to say, ‘Well, you know what? He’s actually on to something. I think he’s right.’ You know, so it’s um it’s it’s that that makes it sometimes difficult and tricky, but at the same time, it’s also where the element of like fun lies for me.”

Eiji Ezaki, aka Hayabusa, sadly passed away in 2016 at 47 years old. Aleister Black last wrestled on the first SmackDown of 2026, losing to Damian Priest in an Ambulance Match.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Popternative, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.