Report: Malakai Black Believed To Be Finishing Up With AEW

Malakai Black could be finishing up with All Elite Wrestling after four years in the promotion.

Black hasn’t wrestled for the company since Full Gear in November 2024, whilst his House of Black partners Brody King, Julia Hart, and Buddy Matthews have been regularly featured on AEW TV in the months since. On the January 8 edition of Dynamite, Matthews lost to Will Ospreay in singles competition, with Ospreay later cutting a promo telling Matthews to step out of the shadow of Malakai Black.

The nature of the promo, coupled with the absence of Malakai from AEW broadcasts, has naturally led to chatter about Black’s status in the promotion. A report from Fightful Select notes the belief within AEW is that Black is finishing up with the company, if he hasn’t already.

Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio has also reported that people in AEW believe Malakai Black is gone from the promotion.

"Well, if Malakai gets mad, because he got mad last time, I just want him to know that he needs to get mad at the people in the back because the people in the back believe he is gone. For whatever that’s worth," Alvarez said.

Reports in late 2024 suggested Black’s deal would be expiring in late 2024 or early 2025, but there was the possibility AEW could enact option years, potentially keeping the former Trios Champion under contract until 2027.

Black’s time in AEW has been odd from the outside looking in, with long absences, stop-start booking, and at least two occasions where it seemed Black was saying farewell on broadcast.

Reports have suggested that WWE would be interested in bringing Black back into the company should he depart AEW, with Black at the centre of the contract tampering allegations levelled at WWE by AEW in 2022.

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