Iain Chambers reccently interviewed NXT Champion Aleister Black at the Download Festival in the UK and below are highlights from the interview

Aleister Black on if WWE was his end game when he started his career:

“No. When I started back in 2000 – which is now 18 years ago – WWE was the land of the giants and I am no shape or size, a giant. I’m 6-feet, 250 lbs. now, back in the day I was barely 140 lbs. and I wanted to do what was obtainable. Was I a fan of WWE? Yeah, of course, but I knew it was not going to be a thing for me, until NXT came to the foreground and a lot of my friends who I was competing against on the independent scene were getting signed. And I was like, ‘Wait a minute? Something’s changed.’ The landscape of professional wrestling really changed when NXT was brought in.”

Black on the pressure of holding the NXT title:

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure because the people who have held this belt, you look at Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and even traveling back to Seth Rollins and Big E, the heritage that this belt has is endless. And it’s heavy, so I have a big responsibility to do right by this belt and do right by NXT.”

Aleister Black on his Black Mass finisher:

“It just comes from my background in martial arts. Back in 2005/2006, I started going back to kickboxing and I just felt I needed something in my style that wasn’t seen very much. … I’ve never seen a spinning heel kick that went to someone’s face, yeah I’ve seen it where they would hit the calf on the chest or like towards the face, but I’ve never seen someone with their heel – on the tip of their toes – connecting with someone.”