has denied the reports and rumors about his release from All Elite Wrestling.
Ahead of AEW All Out, it had been reported that Black requested his release from the company, and Fightful Select reported that it had been denied. In the days after the pay-per-view, another report noted that Black had obtained his conditional release from AEW. He then said he was taking some time off before he posted a statement in which he confirmed that he had asked for his release.
On September 27, Black went on Instagram Live and vehemently denied the rumors surrounding his release. He emphasized that he is taking time off, and he’ll return to AEW once he’s ready.
Black’s message in its entirety is as follows:
“Alright guys, good evening. You know there’s nothing I want to do less right now than going live,” Malakai Black began. “Especially in a time where I’m supposed to take care of myself and take care of a lot of things in my private life, but some people can’t seem to just shut the fuck up and create things that are not there. So I have to go out here again and have a conversation with you guys here. So, guys, how many times do I have to tell people to not trust people that are not in this business? Right? If you can’t even get the years of my contract right, which is a very minuscule detail. Then how are people expecting that these guys know very intimate and private detailing in regards to my private business? My contract is not five years; my contract has never been five years. Again, this is all bullshit. It’s all lies.
“So, I posted a statement, and of course, all of you have read my statement because even if you read my statement, it clearly reads that even release is in quotations. Now. If you don’t know what quotation means, it means that the author does not agree with said quote or set word choice. Or it also means that it’s not his wording, then it is followed by a bunch of multiple things in regards to my marriage and stuff, but it even says that stuff about my conditional release, that is false. So how are you guys still thinking — why are people still writing that I’ve gotten my release?
“I don’t know how — why do you trust these people to tell you the truth? Because it’s not true. In a time where I’m supposed to take care of myself and kind of wind down, I have to deal with this kind of stupid bullshit from people who are not in the business pretending that they are in the business with all their sources. And the worst thing about it is, for the past three days, nothing but weird, hateful comments, and today even two death threats. Death threats? You wish death upon a person because of what someone else has said and then says that it’s confirmed. Clearly, it’s not confirmed. None of it’s confirmed.
“There’s no confirmation because I haven’t left. Luckily, and that’s what this whole thing was about. I’ve been given time off by Tony [Khan] to take care of a bunch of stuff. All this stuff has been cleared up like weeks ago. All this stuff was weeks ago. And I posted that statement as a summary yesterday for you to understand why I take some time off. Again, it’s in the statements like it is in the statements like its mind boggling that if this isn’t enough insight for you guys to stop believing these people, then I don’t know what is.
“Because if you were part of this whole mob that like went and sent me a bunch of hateful comments based on the words of someone else, then sorry, but you’re dumb. Like you’re stupid. And of course, like, again, does anyone understand that in the time where I’m going through the stuff, and I’m kind of dealing with a bunch of stuff in a very productive manner. That exactly doesn’t help what I hate about it is that none of these dirt sheets will take responsibility. None of these guys will take accountability. And said, ‘Oh shit, we fucked up. I’m sorry. We should have probably not said that. Oh, he’s going through some stuff. Maybe we should not make all these baseless assumptions.’ Because again, as it turns out, it’s not true. None of it’s true. Not one single thing of it is true.
“So, again, if you were part of this mob that felt the need to send me death threats, then thank you, dirt sheets, because clearly, those people they don’t care about my mental health. They don’t care about your mental health. They don’t care about your feelings. They don’t care about my wife. They don’t care about my family. They don’t give a shit; all they want is like dumb clicks for stuff that they’re making up because they’re tying bridges between things that are no longer there. They’re tying things between [things] that don’t exist because they want that narrative to exist.
“But again, I’m sure tomorrow there will be a different narrative, and tomorrow there will be it’ll be, ‘Oh, we got the wrong information. Oh, we heard it from this. So don’t blame us. We’re just reporting.’ No, a real person will own up to their bullshit. They will own up to their words, and they’ll say, ‘You know what, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s on me.’ Because if the words come out of your mouth, then own it. Just own it. Anyway, I would like to very much go back to just working on my stuff. Working on my private life. We’re working on getting to the point of feeling good again.
“So I hope that this puts all this stuff to bed. I am definitely not going to be on my social media for a while because, like my god, again, guys. Stop believing these things. Like It is unbelievable to me. Anyway, I will see you guys in a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months. Like I said, I’m only taking some time off. That’s it. Just taking some time off. That’s it. There’s no conspiracy to this. Just taking some time off. All right. I will see you guys soon. Take care of yourself. Stop believing any other narrative like right now; I’ve debunked it. There’s nothing going on. Don’t believe these people. Don’t write opinions. Don’t believe it. Nothing. I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. Everything is fine. You’ll see me right back with AEW pretty soon. I’m just going to take some time. That’s it.
“And guys, last thing before I leave, don’t make me some instrument for this whole tribalism, us versus them thing because I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do the whole team AEW versus team WWE. I don’t play that. To me, this is a business like this is generally like a business in the sense of the way that it’s a business. It’s my job, it’s what I do for a living. That’s how I’ve made my living for the past 12-13 years of my life. I’ve been in this business since the 2000s. Right. Okay.
“So thank you for those who have been supportive of me. Thank you for your nice messages. Thank you for the people who clearly obviously did read my statement and understood that from the get-go that that means that I wasn’t released. So again, thank you very much for the support. Thank you very much. Again, it’s not true if it didn’t come from me, and even that says in the statement if it doesn’t come out of my mouth, it’s not true. Now you’ve known me to be a pretty calm guy for the most part, but this shit is just annoying as hell. So again, take care of yourself, and we’ll see each other soon.”
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that an AEW source believes both Black and Buddy Matthews will return to AEW, as they think the situation as somewhat “mended” ahead of All Out.
WrestleZone will provide more information as it becomes available.
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