Randy Orton’s WrestleMania 42 almost looked a whole lot different. According to Aleister Black, WWE had another direction in mind months before the show—one that never made it out of the planning stages.
Black wasn’t even trying to break WrestleMania news when the subject came up. During an appearance on ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL, he was talking about how refreshing it has been to feel creative again since returning to the independent scene. After working with Cara Noir in PROGRESS, Black said he’s finally getting that spark back.
“There’s so many things in my head that I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, maybe I can go and do this and maybe I should do that,’ and, like, you know, there’s a lot of good stuff there. But it feels good to be creative again. I feel like there’s a flicker, spark there that I haven’t felt in a long time, and that is also why it felt so good.”
That creative spark reminded him of an idea he’d been sitting on for months. Black revealed that about four months before WrestleMania 42, he started working with Jason on a special entrance. The plan was to hide a smoke device underneath his cloak, with Zelina Vega secretly controlling the effect using a remote as he made his entrance.
Black added that Seth Rollins later debuted his own smoking jacket, but made it clear he wasn’t suggesting Rollins borrowed the idea because, as far as he knows, Rollins had no knowledge of what he had been planning.
“I was able to debut my smoking jacket, which is kind of a funny story because four months before WrestleMania, and this is not a knock on Seth because Seth had no idea, right? I started talking to Jason. And I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this smoke device and I want to put it under my cloak.’ And then during our entrance, what I wanted to do is she would have the remote of it, and then when I would roll in and I would sit and she would crawl back, she would press the button and it would smoke and all the smoke would come out my jacket.”
The entrance wasn’t being designed for just another TV match. Earlier in the year, Black and Randy Orton had been feuding on WWE programming, and Black says the direction he had been given was that the rivalry was headed to WrestleMania.
“And initially the plan was for WrestleMania because up until that point the pitch for me and Randy Orton was, you know, WrestleMania.”
Instead, WWE changed course. The feud never reached WrestleMania, Orton moved into the Undisputed WWE Championship picture against Cody Rhodes, and Black’s entrance concept was quietly shelved.
It’s one of those behind-the-scenes stories fans never would have known about otherwise. What started as preparations for a WrestleMania program with Randy Orton ultimately became an entrance Black had to wait months—and a different promotion—to finally bring to life.
Would you have preferred to see Aleister Black vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42 instead of the direction WWE ultimately took? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
