After what proved to be a largely unsuccessful run, Malakai Black is thought to have parted ways with AEW earlier this week.
One of many Superstars released by WWE who were mishandled by Vince McMahon, the hope was he might get a well-deserved main event run on AEW President Tony Khan's watch. That's never fully materialised and his House of Black faction ended up being somewhat underwhelming.
The expectation now is that Black will become a free agent by March, if not sooner, despite Khan's claims that he's under contract until 2027.
PWTorch's Wade Keller has chimed in today, explaining: "There are influential people in WWE who are big fans of Black and see him as a possible top singles act in the company."
It sounds like Black, who was known as Aleister Black in WWE, feels he has a better shot at finding the right creative direction for his character with Paul "Triple H" Levesque calling the shots in place of McMahon (as expected, Vince majorly dropped the ball on Black after what had proven to be a successful NXT run).
While it sounds like Black has at least considered hanging up his wrestling boots, it doesn't sound like his AEW run was without its fair share of issues.
"Black was criticized by colleagues in AEW who were frustrated by the perception that he was resistant to 'doing business,' including a reluctance to doing jobs and frequent claims of injury issues," the source explains. "He and Tony Khan never developed rapport."
Is there a place for Black in WWE? Honestly, it's hard to say. After bad booking during his final months in WWE and a pretty dismal AEW run, his return is unlikely to generate much in the way of excitement.
For what it's worth, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff recently said this about why he thinks Black should return to WWE:
"I think Malakai Black would be great, a great character for that [showing up on NXT]. A great athlete, and a person for that. But — you know, I met Malakai in 2019 when he first, I believe he had just recently arrived in WWE when I did. And Paul Heyman was very, very high on Malakai. Almost like overly aggressive about trying to push him. And not to me necessarily, because he was a Smackdown guy and I was Raw. But to Vince. Mean, Paul spent hours and hours and hours in catering talking with Malakai, helping Malakai understand his character, understand what he was doing on the show. I mean, Paul took a very active hand in trying to position and groom and get Malakai ready for the opportunity in WWE. And for whatever reason, it didn’t work out."
"Now, that reason could have been Vince. It could have just been a taste thing. I know that Vince respected Paul because he spent a lot of time talking to him. But for whatever reason, Vince didn’t see it, maybe Triple H does. Or maybe he’s just a very talented guy that would fit on NXT or CW, if there’s a growth strategy involved there. It’s interesting. You know, I’m guessing — I don’t know. I don’t know Malakai personally, we don’t chat. But I’m guessing he could have probably stayed in AEW and made a lot of money. Probably more money than he could make in WWE if indeed he goes there. But guys like Malakai want to perform."
You can hear more from Bischoff in the player below.