Aleister Black has revealed why he missed Royal Rumble.
The former AEW star had travelled to Saudi Arabia with the rest of the WWE crew for the PPV event but ended up not appearing at the show. There were some speculations that his tattoos might have been the reason why the officials ultimately chose not to include him in the battle royal.
The former NXT Champion was asked about this during his interview with The Stunner. Aleister Black confirmed that he was originally planned to be part of the 30-man match, but denied that his tattoos were the reason for his removal from the show:
“No, that is not true. I was supposed to be in the Royal Rumble, but then they were going to start myself and Randy, and I felt like if we are going to do that story and start in the Royal Rumble, it is just going to get snowed under. We do not want it to just go to waste for them to just be two guys that are like being dumped out. Why do we not save it for the weeks to come?"
Aleister Black competed in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match with Randy Orton and Solo Sikoa on the SmackDown after Royal Rumble. While he lost the qualifying bout, Black went on to defeat The Viper in singles competition at the February 20 episode of the Friday Night show.
The former champion confirmed that his tattoos had been a point of discussion years prior, when the company first started visiting the Middle Eastern country, but not anytime recently:
"The initial setup of Saudi Arabia, my tattoos did come into question. That is absolute fact. In the initial setting, it was definitely like, ‘Well, we do not know how they are going to respond.’ I am talking five years ago when it all first started. That was a conversation I had with Vince. But that is no longer the case."
The wrestling veteran later mentioned how he has been part of the broadcast from Saudi Arabia before, where people could see his tattoos so the rumors don't make any sense.
