10 WWE Castoffs Who Are Killing It In AEW

1. Malakai Black

Malakai Black
AEW

Probably one of the most infamous WWE releases has to be Aleister Black, who was discarded in June right in the middle of a feud and shortly after returning to the roster with a new character and what seemed like a renewed push.

If you’re looking for an example of corporate WWE stupidly cutting their creative team off at the knees, look no further, as it seemed like one had no idea what the other was doing. Black was another of the former NXT Champions that WWE has managed to screw up and toss aside, fueling the belief that the company simply doesn’t know how to manage its talent.

As part of AEW, Black has maintained the dark and mysterious character he used in WWE, feuding with Cody Rhodes and his associates. It’s obvious AEW views Malakai as a big part of their future plans, as his appearances are well-scripted and prominent.

There’s a pretty good chance Black and a few others on this list will be champions before too long (Miro and Christian Cage already have captured gold), which would only further the legend of AEW polishing up WWE’s discarded pieces.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.