Adam Cole defeated Malakai Black on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, and the two embraced after the match.
Cole then got on the mic and thanked Malakai for the match as Malakai walked to the back and waved to the crowd.
Fans online began speculating about the future of Malakai given what happened in the post-match.
"Here we are once more. The match is done and again everybody is, 'Oh, he's retiring. He's retiring because of his injuries,' and this and that. I'm neither of these things. I'm not injured, nor am I retiring, nor am I leaving. I feel this happens every match I have and I don't understand how many times you're going to say these things and them not happening and people are going to fall for that. I haven't been injured for more than three years. I'm referring to my back injury, of course, and I only posted about that after it was done. I'm fine. I've been fine for the longest time. I would really appreciate it if that stuff stops. If I'm going to retire, you're going to hear it from me and not after Adam cuts a promo as a thank you for the match because that's all it was," said Malakai on his Instagram stories.
Tony Khan said in July 2022 that Malakai has "almost five years" left on his contract.
Fightful Select has more details regarding Malakai's status with AEW.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
