AEW star reveals Vince McMahon "really took the time" with him before surprising WWE release

A handful of AEW stars have wrestled in WWE prior to signing with the Jacksonville-based promotion. One such star is Malakai Black. He recently revealed his conversation with Executive Chairman Vince McMahon prior to his final run in the Stamford-based promotion.

Black kicked off his WWE career with NXT back in 2016. During his run, he won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Tournament alongside Ricochet and held the top title in the promotion at one point.

Malakai Black was released from WWE back in 2021. Before his release, he had debuted brand new entrance music and altered his gimmick slightly. He had a series of vignettes every week on SmackDown, telling a story and building his new heel persona.

During an interview on the HardLore Music podcast, Malakai Black shared the conversation he had with Vince McMahon about his character. He mentioned that the Chairman usually spends very little time with talent, but in his case, McMahon took the time.

"I had a whole talk with Vince. This was in the COVID era. To make a very long story short, Vince was like, 'We gotta do something with you.' And I was like, 'Yeah, no s***.' We had a 45-minute conversation. It was kind of unheard of because Vince usually didn't talk [to people longer than] five or 10 minutes. He really took the time," Malakai Black said. (H/T Wrestling Inc.)

Malakai Black on Vince McMahon's initial reaction to his new WWE entrance theme

While speaking on the same podcast, the AEW star spoke about how his new WWE theme song was created and what Vince McMahon's initial reaction was.

Black mentioned that the Executive Chairman did not consider this music. He jokingly mentioned that he was too old and thus wasn't keeping up with the latest trends.

"I came back and Vince is like, 'Alright, let's hear it.’ So I sit there on my mobile phone, and I let Vince hear this extremely loud f***ing hardcore, blackened hardcore song. And Vince goes, 'Well, I mean, I don't know if that's music, but I'm 76 years old, so what the f*** do I know about music?'" (H/T Wrestling Inc.).