Aleister Black ‘very, very happy’ for Brody King’s AEW success
Aleister Black is happy to see his former stablemate Brody King thriving in AEW.
Before Black departed AEW for WWE, he led The House of Black with King, Buddy Matthews, and Julia Hart. King has since held Tag Team gold with Bandido and reached World Championship contention before ultimately losing to MJF. In an interview with The Stunner, Black said he knew his AEW faction members would fare well after he left. He had a conversation with King and Matthews prior to leaving AEW where they all agreed that shaking things up might be for the best.
“It was a very thorough conversation between me, [King], and Buddy. They were in agreement. They were like, ‘Yeah, we also think that it might be best, you know, to change course.’ Because we felt that we were hitting a wall constantly. Not in a malicious way, not in a bad way. Like, there’s only so much room and so much time for everybody, which is fine,” Black said.
“I said to [King], ‘I think once I go one direction, I think you will eventually see a big explosion in regards to how you are being perceived as.’ And I’m glad that we see that now because the whole reason why I initially told Tony [Khan] about Brody was because I already saw that. I knew how good he could be. And even when we first started moving around with him, I had to kind of tone him down a little bit because he’s a big human being. He came out of an era where a lot of big guys would still do flips and stuff like that. I would say, ‘I’d like for you to be more effective. One elbow from you equals dude on the ground and not getting back up.’ Instead of like five forearms and a clothesline.
“He picked up on that tremendously. He saw that it was more effective. He saw that it helped his character get over. He was just one of those guys that I feel was a big diamond in the rough. He’s a good dude. I have a lot of love for him. We fight like brothers, even back then, and sometimes I’m his dad and sometimes he’s my dad. We’ve always had a good relationship, and I am very, very happy for him. Because that’s what should happen. Unique guy, charismatic guy, talented guy.”
Matthews has not been able to have the same success as King due to an ankle injury that has now sidelined him for more than a year.
In November 2024, Black wrestled his final AEW match before eventually departing the company in February 2025. He is now on the WWE SmackDown roster and works alongside his wife Zelina Vega.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.