Is Malakai Black Finally Leaving AEW?

Former AEW Champion Malakai Black could be on his way out of AEW.

The House of Black leader hasn’t wrestled since AEW Full Gear in November alongside Brody King. The duo competed for the AEW World Tag Team Champions, currently held by Private Party. While he hasn’t appeared on television, his other stablemates have. Just last night on AEW Dynamite Buddy Matthews and Will Ospreay went to war, with the latter coming out on top. According to Fightful Select, those in AEW believe he has finished his contractual obligations with the company.

Black’s AEW contract is a hot-button topic. While AEW President Tony Khan insinuated his contract would expire in 2027 a few years back, that is not the case. After 2025 Black had option years with AEW, and evidently, they opted not to re-sign. It’s worth noting that as of now Black is still listed on the AEW roster page which is regularly updated when talent is onboarded/leaves.

His AEW status is regularly a topic on social media, and in November many speculated he was retiring. It isn’t the first time he’s set the record straight, but he sounded incredibly frustrated. “Here we are once more a match down and again everybody is saying ‘he’s retiring — he’s retiring because of his injury.’ I’m not injured nor am I retiring nor am I leaving,” Black said on Instagram.

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“I feel this happens every match I have, and I don’t understand how many times you’re going to say these things, and then them not happening and people still fall for that. I haven’t been injured in more than three years. I’m referring to my back injury, of course, and I only posted about that after it was already done. If you would’ve read the post, you would’ve seen that, and not read what other people have written about it. I’m fine; I’ve been fine for the longest time. I would really appreciate it if that stuff stops, man. If I’m gonna retire, you’re gonna hear it from me and not after Adam [Cole] cuts a promo and says ‘thank you for the match’ because that’s all it was, so thank you.”

If he’s really on his way out, WWE could offer him a contract again. It was noted last summer he had a “major interest” outside of AEW. He also wouldn’t be the first AEW star to jump ship. That began with Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, but since then, WWE has signed Jade Cargill and Penta. He debuted in NXT back in 2016 and remained with WWE until 2020. He debuted in AEW on Dynamite in 2021 and targeted Rhodes.

Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on AEW and Black’s future.