Speaking to Sean Waltman on Pro Wrestling 4 Life, Black discussed his in-ring debut.
"I told Tony (Khan), 'I have this idea, this is how I view it, what do you think?' He said, 'I love it, I love everything about it.' He was confident enough to give me a shot at it. I clearly owe a lot to Cody. We think very much alike in a lot of things, which is very pleasant. I laid out what I wanted to do and they both thought it was cool and it worked. (The vision played out) exactly (how I imagined), with their perspective feedback. At the end of the day, I still work for someone else and I have to get their opinion and clearance. Luckily, I got clearance. Everything that me and him did played out exactly how I envisioned in my head and the payoff worked. It was crazy fun. It was a good moment for my career and good validation in understanding what you do and making it work,"
When asked what it is like working with Tony Khan, Black replied, "Great. Absolutely great. He's very enthusiastic and spontaneous individual. He has an incredible amount of love for what he does and his locker room. He's always available. I briefly spoke to him (on August 5) and he thanked me for what we did. He thought it was really cool. I appreciated it. It's very different. Vince McMahon and Tony are very 180 and two extremely different people. A lot of it has to do with where he comes from, how he is as a person, how young he is. Definitely a different perspective on society and a different mentality. That's okay and great. It works very well for me. I have nothing but good things to say about him. He's been fair and blunt with me, which I appreciate people being upfront and honest with me, even when it's not in my favor. I prefer people to tell me, 'I'm not feeling this.' Cool, at least you let me know vs 'Okay, maybe.' He's very good at that. I appreciate that very much. I think AEW is making very cool waves, it's a great company to be part of and I came in at the right time."