If you caught RAW on August 24, you might be wondering why Aleister Black was turned. Black returned and took out Kevin Owens to turn heel.
Also, thanks to coronavirus, there was a big WWE return delayed.
Why Aleister Black Was Turned
If you caught RAW this week, you know that Aleister Black returned. You may also be wondering why Aleister Black was turned heel, attacking Kevin Owens in the process.
While the Wrestling Observer has now given us some measure of an explanation, it may still leave us wondering.
The really succinct reason? Kevin Owens needed a program.
Details On Why Aleister Black Turned Heel On WWE Raw https://t.co/JxUFGYhrAu pic.twitter.com/vBwCMY0Q9p
— Still Real To Us (@stillreal2us) August 25, 2020
You see, per the Observer, Kevin Owens was WWE’s plan B if Rey Mysterio opted to not re-sign with the company.
Mysterio ultimately did reportedly sign a new deal, and both he and son Dominik are heavily involved in a feud with Seth Rollins.
Because Mysterio re-signed, WWE didn’t need Owens as a plan B…but they did need something for Owens to do on a weekly basis.
Kevin Owens and Aleister Black did share a common enemy, as both men had been fighting Seth Rollins in recent months. Rollins and Murphy put Black out of action for the last month.
So, WWE used that commonality to have Black on the KO Show, and then Black decided to snap on KO. Thus begins Aleister Black’s first heel run on any WWE brand.
So, I’d expect perhaps some future promo to help flesh out the reasoning a bit, since right now there isn’t much there.
However, regardless of how they got there, RAW could certainly benefit from some new heels. As such, having a newly minted heel in Aleister Black could be very good for future programs.
Since he was elevated from NXT, fans could argue that WWE has struggled to maximize what Aleister Black can do for them. Perhaps his new heel turn will help things out significantly.
WWE Return Delayed
The global pandemic has wreaked havoc on many things. We can add something else to the list, as thanks to the virus a WWE return was delayed.
Remember when the Authors of Pain showed up on RAW and promptly ditched Paul Ellering?
And, following that move, they haven’t done much of anything? In fairness, they did get a decent run as Seth Rollins’ first set of new stooges, and they’ve also battled injuries.
Well, not that long ago, WWE was poised to bring Ellering back. That news comes courtesy of the WWE Hall of Famer.
Paul Ellering was scheduled to return to WWE TV before the COVID-19 pandemic https://t.co/1Phv9ARJzQ pic.twitter.com/5vqFx1D3Hy
— WrestlingNews.co – WWE/AEW News (@WrestlingNewsCo) August 20, 2020
Paul Ellering recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast and dropped that bit of news.
According to Ellering, it seemed the plan was to indeed have him come back to manage Akam and Rezar. Coronavirus scuttled those plans, and now AoP are off television due to injury.
When Ellering was fired by AoP, there were conflicting reports that it was due to his lack of desire to be on the road extensively.
Based on his comments on the podcast, there may indeed be some truth to that.
He mentioned that the idea was to have him fly to Orlando, do some television in chunks and then some one-off appearances as needed.
Plans obviously changed. With TV back live in ThunderDome, it would be interesting to see if WWE revisits this idea or not.
