Malakai Black's Future in Question After AEW Dynamite; Match Ending Fuels Fan Speculation

Could Malakai Black's time in AEW coming to an end after his loss to Adam Cole Wednesday?

Malakai Black hugs Adam Cole after his loss on Dynamite / Lee South - All Elite Wrestling

Many wrestling fans were left wondering if we've seen the last of Malakai Black in AEW after Wednesday night's episode of Dynamite.

Black's match against Adam Cole had a very strange ending. Malakai willingly sat down in the ring and definitely appeared to ask Cole to finish him off by dropping the boom knee strike.

The aftermath saw Black reject a handshake attempt and instead offer up an embrace. Adam Cole then put Malakai over on the microphone as one the best opponents he's faced in his career, prompting a showing of appreciation from the audience.

Needless to say, the online wrestling community had some questions.

Is Malakai Black leaving AEW?

Is he injured?

Is he retiring?

I don't know what to make of this... pic.twitter.com/9x9LkL6PWu

— AIR (@AIRGold_) November 7, 2024

Goodbye, Malakai black. See ya at the rumble. pic.twitter.com/MfCK3K0mQ0

— Matt Koon, (@mattkoonmusic) November 7, 2024

This genuinely frustrates me as a fan of @malakaiblxck man.

The way this man has been used in AEW needs to be studied. I don’t for the life of me understand how @TonyKhan can misuse someone like a Malakai Black.#AEWDynamite

This is constructive criticism and it’s warranted. pic.twitter.com/i3420kTBCU

— Jordan Turner (@JTTakeover) November 7, 2024

Malakai Black sat cross legged in the middle of the ring basically asking for to get hit with The Boom, then hugged Cole after the match is that the end of his AEW run? 🤨🤔🧐 #AEW #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/xC1VLWDxlV

— 🅰️🅾️ (@KXNGAO) November 7, 2024

Amid the speculation that last night was a "send off" for the former AEW Trios Champion, Fightful Select dug into the matter but were unable to confirm if Malakai Black is in fact done with AEW.

"The word backstage in AEW in recent months was that they believed [Black] would be done towards the end of 2024 or early 2025," said Fightfuls' Sean Ross Sapp. "Tony Khan himself in 2022 had said that AEW had Malakai Black under contract 'for almost five years.' However, since then, we've been told that those include option years."

Black debuted in AEW in June of 2021 following his release from WWE, but rumors began to swirl just a year later that Malakai wanted to go back to WWE. AEW traditionally has not shown much interest in letting people out of their deals early, especially given it would open them up to join the company's biggest competitor.

Former TNT Champion Miro asked for his release from AEW earlier this year. There's been no update on his contract situation in the weeks since that report.

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