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AEW star Malakai Black, fka Aleister Black in WWE, recently opened up about an infamous botch he experienced during his time with NXT.
The incident in question occurred during his NXT Championship match against Lars Sullivan at TakeOver: Chicago II in 2018, where the execution of Black's signature move, the Black Mass kick, didn't go according to plan.
Speaking with Bobby Fish on The Undisputed Podcast, Black shed light on the mishap and the efforts they made to avoid such a situation.
“I remember Terry Taylor, right before we go out, Terry said to Lars ‘Make sure you come in correctly, Time it right,’ because it was delicate, it was very delicate. But we wanted to pull it off. And I hit him, I roll through, he gets up, I get up, but there is something […] every single time I’ve ever seen him afterwards, he’s always apologized for this. But it’s just about the delicacy of it,” Black said.
Furthermore, Black explained he and Lars Sullivan had a miscommunication. Despite their previous successful coordination, Sullivan's unexpected extra step disrupted their timing.
“We ran this same type of body language and timing every single night. It was successful, we just exchanged the technique. And now, for some reason, as he turns, he takes an extra step for a sell, and then he feeds in, so you see my kick go because I’m anticipating his body language because we’re clocked in. And for some reason … he took an extra step. He didn’t know why. And it completely, you know, it misses. There’s a timing issue. And again, these things happen. These things happen." [H/T - Wrestling Inc.]
Malakai Black talks about being disliked by several stars during his time with WWE
After signing with WWE in 2016, Malakai Black quickly rose through the ranks and captured the NXT Championship in April 2018, holding for several months.
On the same episode of Bobby Fish's podcast, Black discussed his time in WWE and revealed that he faced some animosity from fellow wrestlers when he received a significant push.
"I remember when I was the quote-unquote, like, chosen one in NXT and I did not have a lot of friends because everybody wanted to be the chosen one, you know what I mean? I had a lot of people that did not like me because of that and I was just going like, ‘I’m sorry guys.’ I didn’t do anything on purpose. But it was just the way that the industry was at the time and what the quote-unquote machine picked at that time," Black said.
Malakai Black stayed with WWE until his release in June 2021. A few days later, he made a surprising debut in AEW, where he is currently the World Trios Champion with The House of Black faction.
What are your thoughts on Malakai Black's journey in wrestling? Sound off in the comments section below.
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