Aleister Black Explains How Yokozuna Got Him Into Pro Wrestling

Aleister Black recalls watching Yokozuna as a kid and getting into pro wrestling.

On April 28, Aleister Black and Zelina Vega departed WWE. Black’s final WWE appearance took place on 4/17 SmackDown, where he participated in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Speaking on the Nightcap podcast days before he departed WWE, Aleister Black was asked how he got into the world of professional wrestling.

“There is no wrestling in the Netherlands. So, I remember I was four or five years old, and I’m sitting on the couch with my dad. He’s flipping channels, and we had Eurosport. Eurosport, for a brief time, had WWF at the time. He’s flicking through channels, and I see Yokozuna. Just a brief moment. I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ My dad even stops and then he flicked the channel. I’m like, ‘Wait, dad go back.’ Obviously, he didn’t go back but for some reason that’s intergrained into my brain. Later on, we had New Japan Pro Wrestling on TV … and I saw two guys fighting in a ring.

I grew up in the ’80s and the ’90s, so I grew up with like Bloodsport and Best of the Best, all these action movies. So I’m thinking, this is fighting, so my parents put me on karate, they put me on judo, they put me on Muay Thai. Obviously, by the age of nine, I knew the difference between martial arts and pro wrestling. But then, when I was 15, I had the opportunity to turn into pro wrestling, did that, and then my main style became Muay Thai and kickboxing as my influence. So one helped the other become a wrestler.”

Following his WWE departure, there was a report that Black was in negotiations with AEW. But the company denied these rumors, according to Fightful Select.

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