Malakai Black stunned the world when he joined AEW but now he has had his say on two more potential All Elite recruits – CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.
Rumours have now been swirling for weeks that former WWE Champions CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are ready to join AEW. Some reports have even stated that Bryan has signed his deal and a potential debut date has been named.
Nothing has been confirmed by either man or the company with CM Punk even seemingly blowing cold water on the idea that he is set to debut at AEW Rampage on the 20th of August in his hometown of Chicago.
Recent AEW signee Malakai Black has commented on the rumours of the pair’s impending arrival in the company as a guest on Sean Waltman’s Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast.
Black first admitted that he had no idea if either man were set to become All Elite:
“Number one, I genuinely do not know if it’s true. I genuinely don’t. I haven’t heard anyone mention it. Obviously, there’s a buzz in the locker room. I think it’d be great. I think it really proves that the times have changed. I think it’d be a validation of how different everything is and how different the business is now. I don’t play the ‘us vs. them’ cards. I just don’t. I want everybody to be successful.”
“I want all my friends in WWE to be able to provide for their families. I want all my friends and colleagues in AEW able to provide for their families. That’s what I care about, and if someone like CM Punk goes over to AEW, that’s great for business. That’s good for all of us because it gives the fans something to work with.”
For Black, signings of this magnitude can blow a breath of fresh air throughout the entire industry:
“It gives people perspective. It gives people that mentality of ‘okay, here we go.’ It puts fresh wind in everyone’s sails, and I think for me, as a competitor, as a wrestler, someone who genuinely cares about wrestling and the state of the business, I think that is what’s important. Deep down, I hope it’s true. I think that’d be very very cool to see and very cool to see how the world of professional wrestling would react to it, how the fan base would react to it. Exciting times, very, very exciting times.”
Malakai Black then zoned in on Daniel Bryan and if can see someone like Bryan making the jump to AEW. Bryan’s WWE contract reportedly ran out at the end of April on the same night he was defeated on SmackDown by Roman Reigns in a Title vs. Career match.
Black stated:
“I can see someone like Daniel pulling the trigger on that because he’s someone who has a great love for wrestling, and always wants to try different things and always has a different perspective on stuff. Sometimes, it’s just fun to think about the possibilities, and for me, obviously with my release, the possibilities became different. I can only imagine how his brain might work. I can only guess at it. I hope so. I can see him definitely showing up, but again, I don’t know.”