Malakai Black isn’t sure whether fans will ever see him wrestling on television again. After becoming PROGRESS Men’s World Champion, Black opened up about his and Zelina Vega’s WWE releases and admitted he doesn’t know what his future in televised wrestling looks like.
Speaking during PROGRESS Wrestling’s September 6 event, Black addressed what happened after he and his wife were released from WWE roughly four months ago. He acknowledged the financial reality that suddenly came with those departures, but revealed the couple already had something much more personal happening at home. Black explained that he and Vega had decided to care for Vega’s grandmother, who has dementia, rather than putting her into a care home.
“Now, obviously four months ago we got released, and whatever it is that it is, obviously financial decisions like that aren’t easy to come by. Months prior, my wife and I took care of her grandmother, who has dementia. We didn’t wanna put her in a home, so we invited her to live with us.”
With his WWE run suddenly over, Black had to figure out what came next. Despite everything that had changed, it didn’t take him long to realize that after 26 years in the business, professional wrestling was still where he wanted to be.
“So I had to go where my heart is, and after 26 years, my heart is still professional wrestling. I might not be everyone’s cup of tea. That’s just life.”
Black also acknowledged the conversation that has surrounded him in recent years. He didn’t get into specifics, but said there are “strange narratives” about him that he doesn’t believe accurately represent who he is.
“There is a lot that you can doubt about me, especially nowadays when there are all sorts of strange narratives out there, and I can’t convince you they are not true, but I can tell you, for my own character, they are not.”
There is one thing Black doesn’t want anyone questioning, though. Whatever people think about him or whatever comes next, he believes his loyalty to professional wrestling should be beyond doubt.
“But the one thing you can’t do is question my loyalty to professional wrestling.”
That’s when Black left everyone with a much bigger question about his future. He’s back wrestling and now has championship gold around his waist, but he admitted that doesn’t necessarily mean another major television run is waiting for him.
“I don’t know if my time on TV is done.”
The comments came on the same night Black defeated Cara Noir to become PROGRESS Men’s World Champion. It was his first championship since leaving WWE in April and came only weeks after he returned to the ring against J. Villa at his Dark Arts Gym on August 22.
Black clearly isn’t treating his WWE release as the end of his wrestling career. Whether another televised chapter ever comes along is something even he can’t answer right now, but becoming PROGRESS World Champion makes one thing pretty clear: he isn’t waiting around for television to decide whether his career continues.
Do you want to see Malakai Black back on wrestling television, or would you rather see him continue building his run on the independent scene? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
