As noted, the former Aleister Black made his AEW debut on last night’s Road Rager edition of Dynamite on TNT, now going by Malakai Black. The debut came after Black revealed his new gimmick in a graphic vignette earlier in the day on Instagram, which you can see here. AEW teased the debut by having the lights go out during the opener, which was the South Beach Strap Match between Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall. The announcers blamed the lighting issue on bad weather. Later in the show, Tony Schiavone interviewed Arn Anderson and the lighting issues continued. Black then appeared in the ring and dropped Arn with his Black Mass kick. Cody ran to the ring but Black also laid him out.
Black was able to debut for AEW just a month after being released from WWE. Main roster wrestlers are usually under 90-day non-compete clauses, but Black became a free agent earlier than normal due to a clerical error. PWInsider reports that when Black was moved to the main roster a few years back, WWE failed to update his contract from the 30-day non-compete clause that NXT talents have.
You can see Black’s debut below, along with his first official AEW t-shirt:
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