Spending just over a year with All Elite Wrestling, Malakai Black’s time with the Tony Khan-helmed organisation came to an end following All Out, as ‘The Dutch Destroyer’ bowed out and blew a kiss to the Chicago crowd during his departure. Black is reportedly now taking a leave of absence from professional wrestling to focus on his mental health.
Debuting with AEW on July 7th, 2021 – just over a month after he was let go from WWE – Malakai Black’s AEW journey got off to a strong start. Debuting by laying out Cody Rhodes and Arn Anderson, the one-time NXT Champion was presented as something much greater than his WWE arc ever let you know. Despite this soon fading, Black remained a prolific name on the roster.
Jim Cornette Didn’t Enjoy Malakai Black In AEW
Speaking on his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, the acclaimed wrestling personality stated how much of Malakai Black’s AEW run had been a letdown, referencing The House of Black as a direct result of this:
“This guy has been a disappointment since the start. Remember he looked good, we thought, ‘Okay, guy looks like a bad*ss. Had some buzz about him, came in, did the thing with Cody, and then all of a sudden supernatural city came in, and every match of his, he would have a good match that would go in the toilet because he was playing some kind of spooky mind games with people. Then he gets a group around him and they cater to him until he realises he ain’t getting over, and then he wants to go back to where he kinda got over a little better.”
Malakai Black’s final match for AEW came at All Out on September 4th, teaming with his House of Black brethren Buddy Matthews and Brody King in losing to Darby Allin, Sting, and Miro.
Reports have surfaced since the pay-per-view that Black was granted a conditional release from his contract. The exact conditions of this are yet to be revealed, though it’s believed he’ll be unable to return to WWE for some time, should that be his desire.