“He Wanted To Go To WWE” – Dave Meltzer On Malakai Black Leaving AEW
Malakai Black was granted his release by AEW leading wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer to comment that it was because the House of Black leader wants to go back to WWE.
It was earlier in September when reports came out that Black had been granted a conditional release from AEW after he requested his freedom. At the time, it was believed that Black wanted to leave the company because of concerns over his mental health and dissatisfaction with AEW’s creative direction.
After Black wrestled a match at a Prestige Perseverance event on September 17th, Black issued a statement where he made it clear that he did ask for his AEW release. Black also didn’t seem to like that issues from his personal life became public knowledge. The message from Black also mentioned “promises not upheld” by AEW management.
In a response to Black’s statement, Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio commented that Black likely asked to leave because he wanted to go back to WWE, where he worked as Aleister Black in the past:
“He wanted out from AEW, and I guess we’ll see what happened. I mean obviously he wanted to go back to WWE, and he had a lot of time left on his deal. It’s like four and a half years left on the deal, so it’s an interesting thing because it’s like, really difficult to keep someone who’s under…I mean you can do it, to keep someone who is unhappy, under contract for that length of time. He did sign for that length of time, and the reason that you sign people to contacts is so if they become unhappy they can’t just go somewhere else the next day.”
Black signed with AEW in July 2021 after being released by WWE one month earlier. When that release happened, WWE’s creative team was run by the now-retired Vince McMahon, so with Triple H running the creative there’s been a major change and Triple H worked closely with Black during Black’s successful run in NXT.
It should also be noted that Black’s wife Zelina Vega works for WWE. They got married while working there. The conditions of Black’s AEW release have not been made public.