Aleister Black Explains Backstage Origins Of AEW Debut

Aleister Black (now known as Malakai Black) has discussed backstage details surrounding his surprise AEW debut at Road Rager.

On Wednesday’s show, Black immediately made an impact in AEW, attacking Arn Anderson and Cody Rhodes. It has since been announced that Black has officially signed with the promotion.

Black was able to appear for AEW so soon after his WWE release due to an oversight with his WWE contract.  On Twitch, Black noted that once he realised his previous contract was different, he came up with this idea for his debut.

Discussing precautions taken to ensure his appearance was a surprise, Black said:

“It was a hassle to keep under wraps. Once I found out that my contract was a tad different than the usual, I just came up with this idea. I had already made the character movie and I came up with this idea and the company liked it so we ran with it. It was all very last second. I feel like, in modern day wrestling, there are few moments to make a genuine surprise and get people to look your way.

“For me to sneak in, not be seen, dip and dive so they wouldn’t see me, that took some skill. Kudos to AEW and the entire crew. What a great operation they have there,” he said. “It feels good where I’m in a place where my creative mind can be utilized instead of stopped and controlled and knowing that things weren’t going to work.

“I pitched that idea and said, ‘what if we do multiple blackouts throughout the show and insinuated the technical difficulties?’ Commentary did a great job getting that over and it came off great.

“We made it a thing to make it available to as limited people as possible because that’s how you keep it under wraps. Security, Cody Rhodes, and a few others. It may have been five or six total people. It was a good feeling. It’s been a rough seven or eight months but I feel like I got a win last night. I feel wrestling got a win.

“Last night was top three, one of my favorite moments of my career. I slept for three hours because my adrenaline was so high. It was the cumulation of months and months and months and having this big payoff was worth the pain, chaos, and perseverance,”

Black was released by WWE on June 2, along with the likes of Braun Strowman, Ruby Riott and Buddy Murphy.

Quotes via Fightful.

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• Aleister Black
• Debut
• Malakai Black
• AEW

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