Latest On Backstage Belief Regarding Malakai Black’s AEW Status

A new report has an update on the belief backstage regarding Malakai Black’s AEW status. Wednesday night’s episode of AEW Dynamite saw Will Ospreay defeat Buddy Matthews. After the match, Ospreay cut a promo in which he said that he has now wrestled Matthews and Brody King and that they didn’t need a leader, saying that he sees gold in Matthews’ future and offering to be in his corner in the future. Fightful Select spoke to people in the company and noted that they were of the belief that Black would be finishing up with the company if he already hadn’t.

For clarity’s sake, there is no confirmation that Black’s contract with AEW is up. It was previously noted that there were option years on Black after 2025 and Tony Khan said back in 2022 that Black had “almost five years left on his deal.” There’s no word on whether the options have been declined or picked up, and Black is still listed on AEW’s website in the roster.

Black last competed at AEW Full Gear in November, teaming with Matthews in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Four-Way match.