10 Secret Genius Details Behind Wrestler Entrances

10. Malakai Black Owns The Darkness

On last week's AEW Dynamite, Malakai Black appeared to materialise from some unknowable void in an instantly iconic superstar entrance layered in its brilliance.

He entered through three phases of pitch blackness to convey the broad darkness at his character's core, but this doubled as a neat metaphorical touch. In his awesome squash match win against Cody Rhodes, he exerted total dominance over his opponent. He doesn't control lighting systems or anything so hokey; this was a theatrical illustration of his violent in-ring mastery. The number three is also relevant. He was Tommy End, and then Aleister Black - a character he has retconned to make sense of its failure - before transforming into Malakai. This entrance might represent his metamorphosis.

In an astonishing move, the sludgy, agonised post-metal of Amenra soundtracked him to the ring. On TNT. This was wild, but it wasn't just used because it is a band of which Black is fond. The title of the song, as illuminated by Metal Injection, shares a parallel with his character. 'Ogentroost' is the parasitic eyebright plant used to treat eye infections. In WWE, Aleister's eye was damaged. It is now infected. AEW cares more about WWE continuity than WWE (!)

This decision captures Black's literally poisoned outlook; the character is loosely based on Lucifer, who Black believed vowed to punish God and man for his banishment from heaven. He also tempted Cody "into destruction", in this case retirement, for his "sinful" quest for self-validation. Black, the sin-eater, was disgusted by Cody's excessive pride that puts his wants ahead of his Nightmare Family trainees.

Malakai Black thinks very deeply about what he is doing. The infamous Twitch stream drew scorn in some quarters for that precise reason, but his presentation in AEW has, fittingly, acted as punishment extended towards those who mocked him.