Backstage Report On Internal Reaction To Malakai Black's Reported AEW Exit

While it hasn't been officially confirmed at the time of writing, Malakai Black's time with AEW is reportedly over. The news broke after Buddy Matthews was defeated by Will Ospreay on "AEW Dynamite," which led to the Englishman telling Matthews that he had singles and tag team gold in his future. Black's future with AEW has been the subject of discussion for almost his entire run with the company, which is why Dave Meltzer noted on the "Wrestling Observer Radio" that some people are glad he's gone.

"He's gone, he's not going to be on TV again most likely," Meltzer said. "It's funny because as talented as he is, everyone I've asked about it, they all kind of have the same story and it's kind of like 'good,' so whatever that's worth. I think that whatever it is, I think there's people said that they had that feeling — like he did work hard in his matches, I'm not saying that he didn't, but he wanted to go back and I think that it was very clear he wanted to go back, and once you get that thing where 'I want to go back,' it doesn't work out to put you on TV or anything like that. Especially if you're not comfortable losing, it makes it a lot worse."

Black cleared up rumors about him wanting to leave AEW in 2022 when he was given time off for personal reasons. The most recent rumors cropped up after his match with Adam Cole in November 2024, which Black also had to squash, as he was in disbelief that fans still believed that he was leaving. 

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.