Malakai Black ‘not the only person’ to ask for AEW release following WWE contact

Malakai Black is not the only person contacted by WWE recently to ask for their release from AEW. 

Following All Out earlier this month, reports surfaced that Black had received a conditional release from the company. On Friday, our own Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Black was not the only person to ask for their release from AEW around this time. 

“What we do know is that Black was one of the people WWE reached out to even though he had signed a five-year deal with AEW,” Meltzer wrote. 

“When Paul Levesque took over from Vince McMahon, WWE contacted a number of former WWE talents that were working there that either had left on their own or that Vince McMahon had fired. Black was not the only person to ask for his release at the time.”

Other wrestlers who were also contacted informed AEW management that a member of WWE Talent Relations had reached out to them. This led to AEW’s head of legal, Megha Parekh, writing a letter threatening WWE for contract interference. Tony Khan announced this news to the AEW roster at a talent meeting last month. 

Black’s release from AEW is believed to include a non-compete period that allows him to work shows but not for WWE.