Malakai Black Reveals Details Behind His AEW Debut – Malakai Black (fka Aleister Black) says his debut on Wednesday night during the Road Rager edition of Dynamite on TNT was one of his career highlights.
Black appeared on his wife Zelina Vega’s Twitch account last night and gave insight into his debut, why he went to AEW, his new Malakai character, and more. The stream can be seen here.
While Black’s debut was rumored on Wednesday afternoon, he noted that only a few people knew he was debuting that night. As noted, Black was able to debut so early, after being released from WWE on June 2, because of a clerical error with his non-compete clause, which made him a free agent sooner than expected. He commented on how they made the debut happen.
“Once I found out that my contract was a tad different than the usual, I just came up with this idea,” Black said. “We made it a thing to make it available to as limited people as possible because that’s how you keep it under wraps. Security, Cody Rhodes, and a few others. It may have been five or six total people.
“It was all very last second. I feel like, in modern day wrestling, there are few moments to make a genuine surprise and get people to look your way. For me to sneak in, not be seen, dip and dive so they wouldn’t see me, that took some skill.”
Black revealed his new character earlier that day with a well-produced but graphic Instagram vignette, which you can see at this link. He noted on Twitch that his creative vision for his character has him playing the heel. He’s had that idea since debuting in WWE NXT a few years back, but Triple H always saw him as a babyface in NXT, so the character never made it to the storylines. Black also confirmed that he has new entrance music and ring gear to debut.
Dynamite featured lighting issues to tease Black’s eventual debut, which the announcers blamed on the weather in Miami. The first blackout came during the Strap Match between Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall. Black later debuted during an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone and Arn Anderson, attacking Arn until Cody made the save. Black then took out Cody, setting up his first feud. Black revealed that the blackouts were his idea. He praised AEW for the creative freedom.
“I pitched that idea and said, ‘What if we do multiple blackouts throughout the show and insinuated the technical difficulties?’ Commentary did a great job getting that over and it came off great,” he said. “It feels good where I’m in a place where my creative mind can be utilized instead of stopped and controlled and knowing that things weren’t going to work.”
Black continued to praise AEW and said the move was the right one for multiple reasons. He also said this debut was one of the highlights of his career, and one of his top three favorite moments.
“It was the right move for me to make for me, my family, my career, the state of mind I’m in. It’s just a really good company. I can’t say enough good things about it. They have a bright future,” he said. “Last night was top three one of my favorite moments of my career… It was the accumulation of months and months and months and having this big payoff was worth the pain, chaos, and perseverance.”
Black continued the praise when talking about AEW President & General Manager Tony Khan.
“My first impression of Tony is great. What a f—ing wonderful dude. Really nice guy. Loves his company, loves wrestling,” Black said when a fan asked about Khan.
