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Belief Within AEW Is That Malakai Black Is Finishing Up With The Company [Report]

Malakai Black's future in All Elite Wrestling is once again in question after Wednesday night's episode of AEW Dynamite.

Rick Ucchino

Malakai Black on 10/23 episode of AEW Dynamite
Malakai Black on 10/23 episode of AEW Dynamite / Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

The future of Malakai Black in All Elite Wrestling is once again in doubt.

It was back in November that speculation began to run wild that the former AEW World Trios Champion may be hurt, retiring, set to leave AEW or some combination of those options after a strange finish to his match with Adam Cole.

First Black appeared to allow Cole to pick up the win in their match on the 11/6 edition of Dynamite. Both men then shook hands and shared a brief embrace before Black left the ring and Cole put him over on the microphone.

Malakai took to social media to very quickly shoot down any rumors regarding his his future in AEW. Notably frustrated that this is not the first time the media and fans had questioned his status as a performer.

“Here we are once more a match down and again everybody is saying 'he’s retiring - he’s retiring because of his injury.' I’m not injured, nor am I retiring, nor am I leaving”, Black said.

Here we are just a few weeks later and time is once again a flat circle. Wednesday night's episode of Dynamite has people talking about Malakai Black and he wasn't even on the show.

Will Ospreay and Buddy Matthews, representing the House of Black, put on a banger of an opening contest. The Aerial Assassin came out on top in the end, but put Matthews over after the match and encouraged him to step out of the shadow of Malakai Black.

A digital exclusive with Matthews was then shared on AEW socials where he said that Ospreay's comments did not fall on deaf ears.

The events of Wednesday night led Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select to once again inquire about Black's status in AEW.

"Those that we spoke to in the company were of the belief that he was finishing up with AEW if he hadn't already. They did not clarify if he'd be appearing on TV again," Ross Sapp said. "Fightful Select reported that there were option years [in Black's contract] after 2025. Tony Khan had previously noted that he had Malakai Black under contract until 2027."

As of this morning, Black is still listed on the AEW roster page and Fightful has not confirmed that any kind of official contractual transaction has happened at this time.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino has been covering professional wrestling since 2019, but his broadcast career has spanned over 15 years. He can be heard every weekday morning on 700WLW radio in Cincinnati, OH. You can also read his work over on SI's Cincinnati Reds Talk. Follow Rick on X and Instagram: @RickUcchino

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