On July 7, Malakai Black posted a teaser video entitled "The Devil Made Me Do It."
In the video, Black was locked up and struggling with some inner thoughts and visions. He ends up killing one of the doctors and when asked what his name is, he says his name is Malakai. The video signified Black's transformation from Aleister to Malakai.
He would make his debut on AEW Dynamite later that night.
Speaking on Casual Conversations, Black said the video was not a dig at WWE.
"A lot of people think it's strictly a tie in from my previous engagement," he said about the condition of his eye in AEW. "It is and it isn't First and foremost, the Devil Made Me Do It is not a dig at WWE. It wasn't a 'I was locked up in a mental (hospital)', it was me doing a creative way of...how do I go from this person of Aleister Black to whatever installment is next? How do I do it in a way that I find entertaining and I can build on it."
Later during the conversation, Malakai was asked about potential opponents in AEW when Adam Cole's name came up. The two feuded in NXT and battled in an extreme rules match at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia in 2018.
While Malakai is open to facing Cole, he doesn't want to reference his WWE past too much.
"Personally, the reason why I created the Malakai IP is because I wanted to do something fresh. I had a clean slate. Sure, there are tie ins to stuff, there will always be tie ins, I want it to be different enough and molded enough to be different, unique, and enhanced to what I have done prior and no alienate the fanbase I already have. I personally don't always want to reference [WWE] and the reason why is I want to represent and create the here and now," he said.
Black is set to face Griff Garrison on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite. You can view the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
Figthful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
