Malakai Black Tells Full Story Behind His AEW Entrance

All Elite Wrestling star Malakai Black has spoken about the process behind creating his awesome AEW ring entrance.

Black’s entrance is a huge part of his presentation and it was vital to get it right, and most people certainly believe that’s been achieved.

Speaking on the latest AEW Unrestricted podcast, Malakai Black discussed the entire process from his vision to the execution.

He said:

“There’s a couple of things to that. Number one, right before I made my debut, I released this little movie on my social media platform that was a tie-in to a lot of stuff and gave some backstory as to the how, the what and the when. And there was a lot of light cuts in that particular clip until the manifestation. I wanted to see if I can have elements of that, that translated towards the bigger screen.

“When I was in the other company (WWE), I had a very elaborate, bells-and-whistles kind of entrance, very produced, and not that that’s a bad thing, but I consider myself a bit of a minimalist and I wanted to see if I can create something similar by just using the bare minimum. When we talk about television wrestling, it’s obviously very different than live events, it’s very different than regular professional rasslin’, basically – it needs to translate.

“So I started thinking, how do I translate something on TV that gives a different impression, and that translates well in the theatrical aspect on television, so I came up with the three light cuts with three different positions. I asked myself how can I create an entrance based off of light cuts, and just using three simple lights. And the result is what you see on TV, and it literally is one of the easiest entrances that we have, but taking your word for it, it’s one of the more unique ones that has been displayed in professional wrestling, especially current day.

“I wanted to switch away from the bells and whistles, and just make something that is minimalistic in nature but still has a very memorable impression to people at home, to the people in the audience. I think it’s an incredible thing now that in the span of seven-eight weeks, the second that the lights cut, they know what time it is, and the people just come up. And then as soon as the first note of the song plays, everybody quiets down, because everybody wants to be involved and everybody wants to feel the entrance, and to me, as a professional wrestling, as a performer, as someone that works in television and wrestling, that’s what I want.

“I want the audience to be an integral part of my entrance and I want them to connect and feel to what it is that I’m doing. I want it to be an experience, so from the get-go, I wanted their attention, and this is how in my head I visualised that and I’m glad that it paid off.

“I also have to thank Tony (Khan) for allowing me to build this and giving me the trust, because the conversation literally went like, ‘Well if I can’t get it done in three months then maybe we see if I’m a good fit’, and we did it in less than four weeks, so that was very rewarding, but that’s basically the thought process and the manifestation behind my entrance.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Another fun side story that was told by podcast host and AEW referee Aubrey Edwards was that, during the first rehearsals for Black’s entrance, he wasn’t actually there and QT Marshall had to fill in, which, by the sounds of it, was as bizarre as you’d imagine.

Malakai Black is currently unbeaten in AEW with a 5-0 record, having picked up wins over Cody Rhodes, Brock Anderson, Lee Johnson, Dustin Rhodes, and Cody for a second time.

He’ll be back in action this coming Saturday on Dynamite in a match against Dante Martin.

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• entrance
• Malakai Black
• tony khan
• AEW

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