How 2 Fans Almost Ruined Malakai Black's AEW Debut
Cody Rhodes and Arn Anderson probably would've still been kicked in the head though...
Malakai Black's recent appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast saw the Dutchman tell the story of how two wrestling fans almost rumbled him ahead of his big debut for the promotion, potentially spoiling the surprise.
The 36-year-old was on the road to Miami, Florida for 7 July's special 'Road Rager' episode of Dynamite. He made an immediate impact that night, dropping the lights to ambush Cody Rhodes and Arn Anderson, both of whom were put down by roundhouse kicks to the head. Almost bumping into a couple of fans had Black thinking the whole thing was ruined, though.
Here's what Malakai had to say about the near-miss (h/t WrestleTalk):-
“There was one moment as I’m driving in, and this was just one of those, ‘Oh s**t, all is lost’. I’m driving in, and there’s two fans walking about six feet away from my car, and I just go, *sighs*. But, for some bizarre reason, they didn’t look my way.”
Black continued, revealing the measures he took to avoid any further scares on the journey:-
“I was with Josiah (Williams) from Wrestle and Flow, he was documenting a bunch of stuff, and (inaudible) we held our breath, and they just walked passed us. At that point, I said, ‘Hey dude, I’m gonna hop in the back of the car, you drive, and I’ll just cover myself in suitcases and jackets and whatnot. That was a little too close for comfort, but hey, we did it.”
Malakai has gone 5-0 in AEW thus far, defeating Dustin Rhodes, Lee Johnson, Brock Anderson, and Cody Rhodes (twice) in his ongoing feud with the Nightmare Family. Whether or not that storyline is over remains to be seen, as Cody and Arn keep mentioning Black's name in promos, even after 22 September's latest loss.