Malakai Black opens up on new character in AEW

Malakai Black signed with AEW just a month back but his creative prowess is already on full display. Formerly known as Aleister Black, he has captivated AEW fans with a dark and mysterious character about whom we still don't know much.

In an appearance on The Wrestling Perspective podcast, Malakai Black praised AEW for giving him the creative freedom to express himself and commented on his character. (H/T: WrestlingInc)

"It really is an incredible company,” Black said. “I don’t know how to explain this. I feel so good being in AEW. I feel really relaxed in a way that I haven’t been able to relax in quite awhile.”

Fresh start for Malakai Black 😈 pic.twitter.com/HT6JC58bz4

— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) July 15, 2021

He said that he felt he had a lot to achieve with his previous character and had to make some changes to it.

"I wanted to create something that was already there,” Black said. “It had to fit the wheelhouse. If I would’ve come out in a pink suit with a clown wig or anything, people would’ve been like ‘what?’ It would’ve been vague. And I wanted to rectify a few things first, and I’m going to do that still, with stuff that I always wanted to do with previous installments of the character.

I have so many ideas for this. And once that’s established, I want to kind of deviate from the norm a little bit. Not turn away from it, but give it a different direction. But in order for me to do that, I have to put the bricks in first before we can. People have to have a level of accustomed viewing to this character before I can go ‘hey, let’s flip the switch on it.'”

There's a lot to unpack with regards to Malakai Black's character and everyone is excited to see what the Dutchman has in store.

Malakai Black was released abruptly from WWE before AEW

Black was released abruptly

Malakai Black had been repackaged on WWE Smackdown with high quality video packages airing prior to his return to WWE's blue brand.

However, he was released shortly after leaving his ongoing storyline with Big E dead. The character was typically dark and cryptic but ended up going nowhere. According to reports, there were never any long term plans in place for him and he was released for monetary reasons.

Talking on Twitch, Aleister Black (Tommy End) says he was told budget cuts was the reason he was cut from WWE. ^JN

— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) June 2, 2021

In AEW, hopefully Malakai Black gets to fully express his ideas and potential.