Malakai Black reflects on disappointing WWE return amid promises

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After a pretty controversial run in AEW, most of us expected Malakai Black to get a decent push in his second stint with WWE as Aleister Black. He started with a winning streak on SmackDown, but the writing was probably on the wall when he didn’t make it into the Money in the Bank ladder match or the King of the Ring tournament. What followed was a long feud with Damian Priest he ultimately lost, and despite a couple shots at then United States champ Ilja Dragunov, Black never really found himself in the midcard title mix. Even with those signs, Black’s post-WrestleMania 42 exit was a shocker. That’s probably why the 41-year-old Dutchman hasn’t said too much about his second WWE run and release while restarting his career on the independent scene in the United Kingdom. Malakai Black, Progress Wrestling Men's World Champion#ProgressWrestling pic.twitter.com/S5ccePp7fp — PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) September 6, 2026 But Black opened up a little bit on his experience working for TKO’s WWE when he sat in for a bit on his wife Zelvx’s podcast with her friend Charlie Girl (fka Zelina Vega and Dakota Kai): ​“I can pretend that it [being released] didn’t suck, but of course it sucks. It always sucks. In my case, it sucked harder because of the mountains of things that were promised and all the other conversations. ​“And then being presented with this fucking dud of a year. Despite main events, despite all these things, it [wasn’t] what they said that they wanted to do. ​“To me, it was like, ‘Why did you guys even want this? Because this makes no ficking sense.’ But that’s besides the point. At some point, I’m sure I’ll talk about it.” Black later said “the pitch for me and Randy Orton was WrestleMania”, but Orton ultimately faced Cody Rhodes in the ill-advised Pat McAfee/Jelly Roll program at this year’s Showcase of the Immortals. Aleister/Malakai was not on the card in Las Vegas. Given the aforementioned controversy from Black’s AEW run and exit, the reaction to his comments around the wrestle web has been… interesting, so far. Your turn.