Throughout 2018 and into 2019, Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black (Malakai Black in AEW) engaged in a feud over the NXT Championship.
During the feud, Black would miss just over three months due to an injury, which ended up taking him out of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. On television, he was laid out in the infamous NXT parking lot. In reality, he suffered a horrendous injury.
"I shattered my right testicle in seven pieces in Las Vegas against Tommaso," Black recalled on Pro Wrestling 4 Life. "Me and Tommaso are in this feud, and this is the reason I wasn't on TV for a few months, we were supposed to do an angle with me, Tommaso, and Johnny for the TakeOver match. It was already announced and a week later, we went on the road, Tommaso had just won the belt from me. We had this thing where, I jump on the top rope and he runs and crotches me. He came in with so much force that, as I came down, his head collides with my (groin). Because of that flinch, I couldn't catch myself from falling on the post. I hit the post full speed and it shattered my testicle into seven pieces. I fell in the ring and I told the referee, 'Can you give me a second? I just got hit in the nuts.' At this point, I'm just thinking, 'I got hit in the nuts, it sucks, put me in a hold so I can work and recover.' I wrestle the full 22 minutes, my entire comeback, cut a promo after the match, go backstage and just collapse. I fall down, I'm crawling on the floor and am in agony. At this point, my (groin) was swollen and protruding through my trunks. I had to grab a towel and Scotty (2 Hotty) was not terribly pleased with my promo. I'm like, 'Scott, I'm very sorry, something happened in the ring, I think I need to go to the hospital.' They bring me to the locker room, I collapse again and everyone laughs because they thought I was joking. Chris Hero looks at me and is like, 'You're not okay, are you?' I explained what happened and we went to the hospital."
Black noted that Chris helped him into the ambulance and that he had to wait "six or seven hours" before he was finally able to get into surgery.
"They said, 'We can do two things, we can cut you open and take everything out and put something artificial in there and you'll be good in a week, but your blood vessel is intact. We can repair it, but it's going to take three months. I said, 'I'll take the three months,'" he said.
Black was injured at a live event on July 28, 2018. He would make his in-ring return on November 1 and picked up a feud with Johnny Gargano, who was revealed as the attacker, on television.
Elsewhere during the interview, Malakai discussed the thought of going back to NXT following his WWE release in June. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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