Malakai Black has been a free agent for weeks and the only company he is confirmed to have spoken to is one nobody was expecting.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reports there was preliminary contact between Black and Major League Wrestling a couple of weeks after his WWE release. People familiar with it said the conversations did not go far and no progress was made, but nothing went wrong either. Now that he is properly free, Fightful has confirmed those talks have not resumed.
AEW is the other question, and the answer there is also nothing. Sources in the company told Fightful they have not heard he is coming back.
That has been consistent for months. AEW denied in May that it was negotiating with him, WrestleVotes reported little internal expectation of a return, and Dave Meltzer heard negative sentiment about the idea. Sapp has said the relationship is not beyond repair, which is a long way from a signing.
Black was released on April 24 alongside his wife, now working as Xelina, in the wave of cuts that followed WrestleMania 42. His second WWE run lasted about a year. He spent 2021 to early 2025 in AEW, where he built the House of Black with Brody King and Buddy Matthews, and his exit came with reported friction.
What he does have booked is Britain. PROGRESS Wrestling has him on three Odyssey Tour dates next month, and the promotion has confirmed he will be competing rather than simply appearing, which was unclear when the announcement first went out. Xelina is on the tour too. They will be the couple’s first independent matches since the release.
He is going by Malakai Black, the name he used in AEW, and has debuted a shaved head as part of a teased character change.
