Report: Malakai Black Wanted To Return To WWE

Amidst uncertainty over his pro wrestling future, Malakai Black announced on Sunday that he had requested his release from All Elite Wrestling and he was going to take the next few months to recalibrate. This came after reports revealed that AEW talent believed Black had been granted a highly conditional release from the promotion.

Speaking about the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Black wanted to go back to WWE but he had several years left on his AEW deal.

"He put out a statement today and he wanted out from AEW. I guess we'll see what happened. Obviously, he wanted to go back to WWE and he had a lot of time left on his deal. I think four and a half years left on the deal. It's an interesting thing because it's really difficult to keep someone who is unhappy under contract for that length of time. He did sign for that length of time. The reason you sign people to contracts is so that they can't if they get unhappy or somebody makes an offer somewhere else, they can't just go the next day. The whole reason he was signed to a five-year big-money contract was so if something happened in WWE and they wanted him back and they changed his mind, that they had him and they could book him for all those years. So it becomes an interesting situation and the same goes in the other direction too," Meltzer said.

It was noted that WWE had reached out to AEW talent in recent months. Black's wife Zelina Vega is a WWE talent.

Black's last match with AEW as it stands was at All Out when House of Black were defeated by Sting, Darby Allin, and Miro. The former NXT Champion is still listed on the AEW roster page.

H/T to WrestlingNews.co