Malakai Black has hit out at reports of him receiving his release from AEW at his request as he sets the story straight on his future.
Earlier in September, it was reported that Malakai Black had been granted his conditional release from AEW. This followed rumours ahead of All Out of uncertainty regarding his AEW future despite signing a five-year deal with the company in July 2021.
As noted by Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc, Black has expressed concerns about his mental health due to his personal life and displeasure over the way that his character has been presented.
Black recently addressed the situation in-depth on his social media where he revealed that he had requested his AEW release at one point. However, that is apparently not the case according to a new statement from the Dutch star.
In a video now posted on social media, Malakai Black pointed to the fact that he had used quotation marks around the word release in his original statement as he denies that he has left AEW. Black followed up with comments that hit out at reports that his AEW release had been confirmed:
“It’s not confirmed. Clearly it’s not confirmed. None of it has been confirmed because I haven’t left. I’ve been given time off by Tony Khan to take care of a bunch of stuff. All this stuff was weeks ago. I posted that statement as a summary to understand why I [am taking] some time off. It is in the statement. It’s mind boggling.”
In regards to those reports surrounding conditional release from AEW, Malakai Black added:
“That is false. I don’t know why you trust these people to tell you the truth. Because it’s not true.”
Furthermore, the former NXT Champion said that he’d be returning to AEW before long:
“I will see you guys in a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months. Like I said, I’m only taking some time off…there’s nothing going on. I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. Everything’s fine. You’ll see me right back in AEW pretty soon. I’m just going to take some time, that’s it.”