10 Times AEW Took Advantage Of WWE Ignoring The Fans

9. Malakai Black

Roman Reigns, CM Punk
AEW

Malakai Black didn't arrive in AEW with unanimous support from a waiting and willing crowd.

In the near-immediate aftermath of his surprising WWE release, the former NXT Champion spoke at length about his time working for Vince McMahon in a manner that came dangerously close to stripping all his mystery away.

He spoke of how much more he wanted to do with the character before reducing some of his ideas to vague colour-coding. Of a relationship with McMahon that apparently didn't extend to The Chairman's yes men. Of ideas that trended way closer to "lore" than is healthy within WWE's cruel and reckless system.

Be it AEW's existing golden touch or the exact measure of creative freedom being afforded to the performers, Black's run has been excellent. Dark without being hokey (most of the time), Black instils as much fear with his devastating offence as he does spooky bullsh*t. The black mist is a touch foreboding and the eye makeup is lame holdover from his post-release Instagram nonsense, but going 2-1 with Cody appears to have set him up for a headline run within the next year.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett