Aleister Black Details “Cult Like” Religious Upbringing and Character Origins
WWE Superstar Aleister Black opened up about the personal history that laid the foundation for his dark and enigmatic wrestling persona. Speaking on The Cody Tucker Show, Black revealed that his character is deeply rooted in his experiences growing up around a side of his family that practiced an extreme form of religion.
“For me, it came from a childhood experience growing up in a family that had very… Very deeply religious ties, pressing cult like devotion on one side of my family, where my father was from,” Black said. He clarified that while his father did not share these views, the extended family was intense. “The religion itself was very bleak, very end of the world type, everyone’s a sinner. The world’s coming to an end… Very devoted followers.”
Black explained that questioning this rigid system led him down the path of the occult. “Because of the strong ties to religion, and me not understanding religion and always questioning religion, I got a huge interest in religion,” he said. “You start also getting an interest in the counteracting parts of that. So I went from like, you know, religion to the occult.”
He described this shift as a natural rebellion against his environment. “I guess, in a way, you know, you rebel against the system that, like, you grow up in, because you don’t agree with it,” Black noted. “You realize that outside of those boundaries is where life really is, and we search for it more and more.”
This thirst for “forbidden knowledge” in a pre-internet era drove him to books and comics that shaped his worldview. “The more I read, the more knowledge I wanted to know, the more I knew, the more restless I became,” he recalled. “I remember like being 11, 12, years old, and laying awake at three in the morning because I’m trying to figure out the universe.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Cody Tucker Show with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can watch the full interview on their YouTube channel.
