Aleister Black Reveals New Details About WWE Alliance With Zelina Vega

"We started shooting little vignettes for it, and we started creating outfits for it," Black 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."

Years before those team-up plans fell by the wayside, I had the opportunity to conduct a radio interview with Aleister Black for Cincinnati's ESPN1530. At that time, he was very confident that Vega and himself would never be an item on WWE programming. That was until the aesthetic of them together caught the eye of upper management.

When Black re-signed with WWE this past spring, a new creative regime was in place and Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque had different ideas in mind for the return of the former NXT Champion. Ones that didn't involve Zelina Vega.

"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."

Less than three weeks after AJ Lee and CM Punk defeated Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch in a rather notable mixed tag team match at WWE Wrestlepalooza, Zelina Vega would make her own headlines by helping her husband defeat Damian Priest in a Last Man Standing Match on the October 10 edition of SmackDown.

After watching the finish of that match play out, and undoubtedly taking notice of the positive public reviews of the Black and Vega partnership, Paul Levesque was then all in on letting this necessary evil flourish.

"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."

The creative possibilities of this particular husband and wife alliance may be boundless. Aleister Black has built himself a reputation of having one of the better minds in the professional wrestling business. His character work has captivated fans for years, regardless of which company he was working for at the time.

Black told The Takedown on SI that Zelina, who is an incredibly versatile performer in her own right, has a different side to her that the WWE Universe has not been able to bear witness to just yet.

The two of them are currently exploring the best way to showcase this different version of the former Women's United States Champion, while also nailing down their on-screen dynamic as husband and wife.

"We've had so many conversations and [put] so many ideas on paper, and now it's just like, okay, what idea do we want to do with what? What would the social media look like, and what is the complete full aesthetic? 'Cause this was sprung onto us in almost three weeks. It was a pitch initially, and then all of a sudden... we're actually doing this in the span of a week. So we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for this."

What the long-term future holds for Black and Vega is anyone's guess, but presently, they have some unfinished business with Damian Priest.

Could a Mixed Tag Team Match be in the works?

The Archer of Infamy returned to SmackDown last week, sporting the scars of taking a fireball to the face, and he cost Aleister another opportunity at winning the Men's United States Championship.

If Priest hopes to finally gain some sense of closure and put this rivalry behind him, he may need to find himself an equalizer for Zelina Vega. He wouldn't receive much pushback if he did. A two-on-two fight is a very desirable prospect for Aleister Black.

"Hopefully this leads into some intergender tag matches, because we've been working in a laboratory on some unique stuff. I'm expecting a lot of really cool stuff from this and it's a completely different dimension for myself and my wife."

Just putting something out into the universe here. What's Rhea Ripley up to right now? How's her nose doing ? I don't think anyone would mind if Raw GM Adam Pearce loaned her out to SmackDown for a quick Terror Twins reunion. Fingers crossed.

Don't miss part two of our conversation with Aleister Black, which will drop next Friday, November 7 here on The Takedown on SI.