PJ Black presented new character idea to WWE & AEW, received mixed reviews

Photo Courtesy: New Japan Pro-Wrestling

A new character idea that P.J. Black has been working on. 

With two decades of experience in pro wrestling, P.J. Black is looking to reinvent himself. He shared with PWMania that there’s a new character idea he’s been working on that has been presented to those in AEW and WWE respectively. 

He stated that there were mixed reviews and on the AEW front, he was told the idea was cool but could he just continue on with his ‘Darewolf’ persona. P.J. added that he wants to adapt to the current times. 

I don’t never say never for WWE. I did show them this new character I’ve been working on. I sent them the package. I sent it to all the writers, the producers and everyone that I know still works there and you know, it’s kind of mixed reviews. Everyone’s like, ‘Interesting. I really wanna see what’s next.’ Some people were like, ‘Wow, there’s so much we could do with it because there’s so many layers to unpack.’ Some of the AEW people were just like, ‘Ah, yeah. This is cool but just can you be Darewolf?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I can do that too.’ So we’ll see what happens. I haven’t really had any solid offers or anything like that but like I said, it would be nice but I mean, I’m not gonna wait around for that before I pull the trigger on this character so we’ll see, we’ll see. It’s a very interesting time in wrestling right now. There’s so many companies and great talents all over the world so I think it’s a really exciting time. This is what I like about wrestling, it evolves and if you don’t adapt then you get left behind and then you’ll see guys like Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio who’s been around forever and ever and ever and they just kind of adapt and go so, I’m trying to be like — not be like Chris Jericho but kind of just adapting to the times, reinventing myself, playing a new character or just bringing some new things to the table that I think would be fresh and exciting.

The question of if his new character would thrive more under Tony Khan or Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque was asked. Black feels it’ll do best where he has more freedom, but has no issue being told to reel it in. He said the character is super over-the-top and ‘out there’. 

That’s a good question (if his character would thrive more under Paul Levesque or Tony Khan). Whoever gives me more freedom, I think it’ll thrive in but I’m also open to — because it is a little bit way out there. My mind works a little bit different than most people, right? So one thing I learned from Dusty Rhodes in WWE is give them too much because they can always pull you back and kind of guide you towards that rather than kind of not giving them anything and be like, oh, come on, do something so, that’s why I’m going way over the top with this. Wait ‘till you see the vignettes. I’m sure I’ve posted some teasers on my Instagram a while back but it’s a little bit out there, this character, but I believe that’s what people want, right? We kind of went through this reality era. Remember the Attitude Era? And then it was like the reality era and I call it the ‘Hunter Era’ right now (he laughed). Wrestling keeps evolving so I feel like this character will fit in anywhere really, especially now because I believe that now with Marvel and DC and all these superhero movies that are good, most people know the business, right? So they wanna be entertained, they wanna see over-the-top characters. Like look at Bray Wyatt, that’s one of the coolest characters, right? I think that’s what people wanna see so that’s why I’m creating this super over-the-top character and if I do go to one of those companies, they can always just tell me to kind of hold it back or whatever. I feel like Tony Khan would not hold it back so much but then again, Triple H, I respect him and I think he has some amazing ideas and stuff that I haven’t even thought of yet so I’m open to any of those things. We’ll see what happens. It’s gonna be an exciting year for sure.

While Black was working shows in Las Vegas, Nevada in May, he attended AEW Double or Nothing. His friend Taya Valkyrie was in a TBS Title match on the pay-per-view. 

I watch a little bit here and there (of the current wrestling product). I watch the pay-per-views. My good friend Taya Valkyrie, she’s on AEW so I’ve been watching all that stuff. I was at the pay-per-view in Vegas because I had a couple shows there that weekend too. I’m a fan, we’re all fans, right? I love wrestling. There’s just so much to watch these days.

In early 2020, POST Wrestling conducted an interview with P.J. Black via Andrew Thompson Interviews. That can be read or watched by clicking either of the highlighted platform names. 

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit PWMania with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions. 

About Andrew Thompson 8275 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.