Aleister Black

“I never felt like the nine to five mentality is for me.”

“To a lot of MMA fighters, pro wrestling is a very popular thing and I'm very thankful for them to try and make the transition into professional wrestling. But then they figure out its not as easy as a lot of people think.”

“I watched Japanese style wrestling, European style wrestling, and WCW.”

“Like, the idea that I had to spend the rest of my life behind a desk and not be able to express myself the way I wanted to express myself. To me, that is torture. I mean if people out there that do love that then more love to them, but it just wasn't for me.”

“As a 4-year-old, I saw two men competing in the ring, and I thought it was martial arts. I asked my parents if I could do martial arts. So, I was 5 or 6-years-old, and I was doing karate and jiu-jitsu. Later on, I started kickboxing. Then, it just progressed. I did a little bit of everything, but predominantly, I did kickboxing.”

“There is a considerable amount of content to what made Tommy End Tommy End and what makes Aleister Black Aleister Black, but there are a lot of similarities. I sometimes feel like Tommy End shed his skin and became Aleister Black. I truly feel that in WWE Tommy End could become Aleister Black.”

“I had paralyzing fear as a kid. I couldn't watch horror movies, nothing. The funny thing is I got so sick of being afraid that I started doing it deliberately and instead of being afraid in my bed I would sit up on my bed and say, 'ok, come on, show yourself, do it.'”

“I watched professional wrestling at a very early age.”

“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.”

“The whole Aleister Black character is a creation of my influences, Triple H and NXT, and everyone combined.”

“There seems to be no rhyme or reason for Aleister Black and Bobby Lashley to collide, because the world teaches us that sometimes there is no reason or rhyme for conflict.”

“My mom was Roman Catholic, my dad was part of.”

“I have no interest in having my wife as my manager and I don't think she has to because it would be kind of cliche. It's almost in the line of expectations where it's like, oh of course you're going to put them together, and I don't want that.”

“I look at sports entertainment/professional wrestling, whichever you want to call it, I look at it as never done. You're never done learning or getting better or listening, and never done honing your skill.”

“Even when you come towards the end of your career, I mean professional wrestling covers such a vast ball of knowledge it is impossible to obtain everything.”

“I like being by myself a lot.”

“When I started out in wrestling, you have to start somewhere and you either start being the good guy or the bad guy. There is several cliches that follow that.”

“Everyone's an individual and individuality is such a strong thing in our society so that translates into wrestling.”

“I've never had like many friends, I've had a few. It's just something that's in my character, in my personality.”

“I was born in Amsterdam.”