Malakai Black denies release, says he’ll return to AEW ‘pretty soon’

Malakai Black took to social media to deny reports he had been granted a release from AEW.

Black went live on Instagram Monday night, denying reports about being granted a conditional release. He pointed to his original comments on September 18 about taking time off, saying he had put the word “release” in quotation marks. He later made it clear he was remaining with AEW after taking some time off.

“That is false,” he said in regards to getting a conditional release. “I don’t know why you trust these people to tell you the truth. Because it’s not true.”

He said that he had been given time off by Tony Khan, and speculation about his release being “confirmed” was not true.

“It’s not confirmed. Clearly it’s not confirmed. None of it has been confirmed because I haven’t left,” Black said. “I’ve been given time off by Tony Khan to take care of a bunch of stuff. All this stuff was weeks ago. I posted that statement as a summary to understand why I [am taking] some time off. It is in the statement. It’s mind boggling.”

“I will see you guys in a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months,” he later added. Like I said, I’m only taking some time off…there’s nothing going on. I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. Everything’s fine. You’ll see me right back in AEW pretty soon. I’m just going to take some time, that’s it.”

https://twitter.com/BRAlNBUSTAH/status/1574616502111768589

Black also clarified he did not have a five year deal. Additionally, he said he had received at least two death threats regarding the reports of his release.

Black last wrestled for AEW at All Out earlier this month, where he, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews lost to Miro, Sting, and Darby Allin. Speculation regarding Buddy Matthews’ status with AEW also emerged after saying he “needed to go away for a while” at a recent independent show.