Latest Free Agency News About Malakai Black After WWE Release

Malakai Black is preparing for his return to the ring following his rather surprising release from WWE back in April.

PROGRESS Wrestling, which is now owned and operated by Black's former WWE colleagues Nikki Storm (Nikki Cross) and Big Damo (Killian Dain), announced last week that Malakai will be coming back to his old stomping grounds for three shows in early September.

Black's wife Xelina, formerly known as Zelina Vega, will also be appearing on The Odyssey Tour for PROGRESS Wrestling, marking the couple's first matches back on the independent circuit since they were both included in a deep round of post-WrestleMania 42 cuts by WWE parent company TKO.

⛵ THE ODYSSEY TOUR - MALAKAI BLACK WILL BE COMPETING ⛵

One of the biggest names in professional wrestling is coming to Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester for his first matches back on the independent wrestling scene!

He's held gold in every major company he's set foot in and… pic.twitter.com/fZlb9YTuL6
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) August 12, 2026

More than two dozen wrestlers were released from their contracts, or they were informed that their deals would not be renewed, back in the spring. Others, like Kofi (Kofi Kingston), Austin Creed (Xavier Woods), and Sheamus, were reportedly asked to restructure their contracts and stay for less money, but declined those offers.

The New Day are now officially free agents and are widely expected to join The Motor City Machine Guns in All Elite Wrestling in the very near future, while Sheamus will reportedly have to wait a couple more months before making his next career move.

There are those in the AEW locker room who are expected to push for Sheamus to be brought in, at least in some capacity, but news about Malakai Black has been relatively quiet.

Malakai Black has had conversations with other wrestling promotions

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, Malakai Black did have some preliminary discussions with Major League Wrestling sometime in early May, which would have been long before he could ever make an appearance for the promotion.

"Those that we spoke to familiar with the situation claimed that the conversations didn’t go very far, and no progress was made between the two sides," Ross Sapp said in his report Sunday night. "Things didn’t go awry or anything of that nature. However, now that Malakai is a free agent, we’ve confirmed that conversations have not picked up between the two sides."

For those of you who are wondering, Ross Sapp did inquire about a potential return to All Elite Wrestling. Sources have claimed to him that Malakai Black, at least as of this writing, is not in discussions for an AEW reunion.

Black spent four years in AEW following his initial release from WWE in 2021, but left the company to become Aleister Black once again under the Paul 'Triple H' Levesque creative regime in April 2025. He lasted just 12 months as a member of the SmackDown roster before his shocking exit in April of this year.

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