42-year-old star confirms he's been in talks with WWE over a potential return after 8 years
WWE has brought back many former stars to the ring recently, and PJ Black (aka Justin Gabriel) is also open to making a return to the Stamford-based company.
Black joined WWE in 2008. He signed a three-year developmental deal with the promotion. After working in FCW, Justin Gabriel participated in the first season of NXT. Soon after, he shot to fame as part of Nexus. Gabriel won the Tag Team Championship thrice and had some massive rivalries that saw him pin John Cena on a few occasions.
In January 2015, PJ Black parted ways with the promotion just before his scheduled Royal Rumble appearance. He has since worked for Ring of Honor and IMPACT Wrestling and experimented with a few different characters.
In a recent interview with PWMania.com's Ari Barkan, Black was asked about a potential return to WWE. He responded positively, revealing that he had been in talks with several writers and producers regarding the character he was working on.
"I mean, never say never [with the] WWE. I did show them this new character I’ve been working on and I sent them the package. I sent it to all the writers, the producers, and everyone I know that works there. And you know, it’s kind of mixed reviews. Everyone’s like, interesting. I really want to 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," said Black.
It should be remembered that Black left the company after Triple H shot down ideas for a wolf-themed daredevil persona he developed and wrote promos for. It will be interesting to see if the creative team allows the Cape Town superstar to work freely if he returns.
PJ Black still stays in touch with WWE and its brands
In his interview with PWMania.com's Ari Barkan, PJ Black said that he watches WWE often and stays in touch with the product. He added that he recently watched NXT and enjoyed it even though he didn’t know anybody there.
"I love wrestling. I just…there is so much to watch these days. Like I watched NXT the other day... I didn’t know any of those people were they were all fantastic, like amazing performances, but I don’t know any of them. You know, and in wrestling you kind of want to gravitate towards a character that you know, right? If you watch it all the time you have your favorites and your non favorites and stuff like that.”
The company has been working hard to build different characters on all three of its brands. This has allowed them to stand out from the rest of the promotions and offer something different to fans every week.
Do you want to see PJ Black return to the company? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.