Top star attempted to leave AEW when Triple H took over WWE; future uncertain - Reports

According to recent reports, a major AEW star tried to leave the Tony Khan-led promotion when WWE's creative was taken over by Triple H in 2022. The star in question is none other than Malakai Black.

The leader of the House of Black was known as Aleister Black during his time with WWE. Black emerged in NXT in 2017 and quickly became one of the top acts on the erstwhile Black and Gold brand. He captured the NXT Title in 2018 and was moved to the main roster in 2019. However, his booking was underwhelming and shortly after getting repackaged in 2021, Black was released from his contract. Malakai made his AEW debut in July 2021 and his contract is reportedly expiring next year.

In a recent report by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Malakai Black gave notice to All Elite Wrestling once Triple H became the head of creative of WWE in 2022. The Stamford-based promotion is also interested in rehiring Black however, AEW could put some time on his contract which Black missed due to injuries.

AEW star Malakai Black never wanted to be in WWE

Malakai Black had a great run in WWE's NXT brand. However, in a recent interview, Black revealed that he never intended to sign with the Stamford-based promotion. In an interview with Bryan Asbury of Developmentally Speaking, Malakai Black revealed that his main goal was to wrestle in Japan. However, the sudden emergence of NXT as one of the hottest brands attracted him to come to WWE.

"Here's the funny part, I never really wanted to be part of the WWE. My goal was never the WWE. My goal was Japan for the longest time. And I did Japan, and it was around the time you know where NXT had developed itself as this like really cool entity where a lot of the people that I used to like wrestle myself on the independent scences were like making waves there. They were becoming stars, you know, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor all these." [19:59 - 20:23]

It will be interesting to see if Malakai Black moves to the WWE once his AEW contract expires next year according to reports.