Former WWE personality Vince Russo shared his two cents on the creative prowess of AEW star Malakai Black.
Last week on Dynamite, Black, Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Julia Hart made their unexpected returns after being out for months. The House of Black breezed all over Best Friends and The Factory to send a message to the rest of the AEW locker room.
On the most recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, Russo and EC3 spoke about Black being too creative for AEW President Tony Khan and that his character was lost in the shuffle.
Giving his thoughts on the topic, the WWE veteran boldly stated that no amount of money could ever top anything if a wrestler's ability to be creative was getting restricted, which he apparently also applied to Black's case.
"When you are a creative guy and that creativity starts getting stifled, all the money in the world ain't gonna make you happy. I'm telling you, when you're really creative and you need that outlet and they start saying 'no, you can't do this, no you can't do that, no no no,' it doesn't matter what that paycheck is, you're going to be miserable and he [Black] seems to fall into that category," Russo said. [from 7:10 - 7:43]
Check out the episode below:
Before their return, The House of Black's last match was at All Out on September 4, where they lost to Sting, Darby Allin, and Miro.
The Dutch Destroyer then reportedly took some time off due to personal reasons amidst a flurry of allegations that he asked for his release from AEW, which he vehemently denied eventually.
EC3 comments about whether Malakai Black is creatively stifled in AEW
Prior to Vince Russo's thoughts on the matter, EC3 was also asked the same question about Malakai Black being too creative for AEW President Tony Khan during the same episode.
The former WWE Superstar only had this to say about whether a wrestler should have or shouldn't have creative freedom, which is the case for some AEW talents.
"Not everybody should have creative freedom fully too because sometimes, a great artist could go way out there and sometimes it is good to have something that you can bounce off of and it can be brought back down. Like don't be afraid, I'll tell people to go out there as much as you possibly can and in fact you should. But sometimes, you have to accept the fact you're going to be pulled back if you wanna collect the guaranteed weekly check that's very very high. Like those are the games you're gonna have to play," EC3 said. [from 5:43 - 6:13]
With his return, it will be interesting to see if Black and his faction's booking will improve this time around.
Do you think former WWE talent Malakai Black is creatively stifled in All Elite Wrestling? Sound off in the comments section.
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