HOFer JBL Thinks FKA Aleister Black Is Burning Bridge With WWE

It took a little more than five months following his release for former WWE star Aleister Black to reveal he wasn't too thrilled about his latest run with WWE, going as far to refer to the stint as "a dud of a year." It's a sentiment WWE Hall of Famer JBL can understand, but not one he thinks is smart to embrace. Discussing Black's comments on "Something to Wrestle," JBL felt Black's rantings would do him no good, feeling it would hurt his chances to return to WWE down the road.

"I don't know if Aleister is burning this bridge or not, but it certainly is not a way to keep an amicable relationship with guys," JBL said. "You know, when you're throwing them under the bus when you're leaving. It's the kind of thing...my father used to always tell me 'When it's time to leave, grab your hat, shake their hand, and just walk out.' That's all you need to do. And that's the advice I would give these guys. Shake their hand, walk out. Cause there aren't that many bridges to cross. 

"You think about what there is out there, there's not that many places to make it in sports entertainment. And if you've alienated Tony Khan, I don't know if he has or not, or if you alienate Triple H or Nick Khan, that's WWE. I don't know why you would want to do that. Just leave. I get you're mad; don't do interviews when you're mad. Nothing good ever comes of it. All that comes across is that you're bitter, you know?" 

As JBL alluded to, Black had a polarizing exit from AEW prior to his return to WWE, with many within AEW since suggesting that Black wouldn't be welcome back with the promotion. Since his WWE release, Black has competed on the indies, and reverted to his old ring name, Tommy End.

I always love it when someone in wrestling has something negative to say about an experience working for a wrestling promotion, and someone, be it a fan, a fellow wrestler, or someone else in the business, comes out and goes "you shouldn't do that, it'll hurt your career." There's a lot of things silly in wrestling but few things sillier than that, and it's quite silly that JBL, he whom has definitely never handled anything wrong in his career, is calling Aleister Black out for the crime of speaking his mind. For starters, there's nothing wrong with that; wrestlers should have an environment where they're allowed to speak freely like anyone else. Secondly, it's hard to imagine Black is getting another call to return to WWE after being released twice, so it's not like he's burning a bridge that wasn't already burnt. And then most importantly, he's probably upset, in part, because it sure seems like he burnt the AEW bridge to get back to WWE, only for them to just can him a year later.

I don't know if people appreciate how much that aspect of this is motivating Black's frustrations. We've all heard the stories about how WWE was trying to convince Black to leave AEW a few years ago, may have almost succeeded in 2022 until Tony Khan put a stop to it, and how after that Black may or may not have refused to lose matches (a charge he denies, in fairness) until he could get out of his deal and head back to WWE. How much of that is true is something we can all decide for ourselves, but it does seem pretty clear that Black reached a point where he wanted out of AEW to go back to WWE, and alienated people in AEW in the process. And he ended up doing all that just so he could have a so-so year in WWE before they released him AND his wife? I don't know about you, but I think anyone else in that situation would be no happier than he is. Even without that, Aleister Black, Tommy End, or whatever you want to call him would be within his right to air his grievances. But given what he gave up and the fact that there probably isn't a third WWE run on the horizon? That's only more reason for him to speak freely.