Upon a disappointing defeat against Adam Cole on AEW Dynamite last night it looks like Malaki Black just lost the will to fight.
If the match was supposed to help invoke memories of Adam Cole and Malakai Black during their black and gold NXT days or even PWG days? It failed to deliver. The match was fine, nothing offensive, but by the end of it? It was clear that Malakai Black just didn’t have much left to give.
Crossing his legs, he welcomed Adam Cole to bring the boom on him and end his misery. Cole would win clean in the ring in a match most expected there to be a finish without a pinfall, common in much of Black’s matches in AEW.
Malakai Black sat cross legged in the middle of the ring basically asking for to get hit with The Boom, then hugged Cole after the match is that the end of his AEW run? 🤨🤔🧐 #AEW #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/xC1VLWDxlV
— 🅰️🅾️ (@KXNGAO) November 7, 2024
Following the match, Malakai Black would give Adam Cole a hug and slowly walk down the ramp, with Adam Cole giving Black his props as a great competitor. Black would look back at the audience, looking like it might be the last time he walks out to an All Elite Wrestling audience.
That was how most felt, and apparently this has been confirmed by House of Black faction mate Brody King:
I’m going to miss my brother Malakai…
— Big Bad Brody King (@Brodyxking) November 7, 2024
I heard after last nights match @malakaiblxck is leaving wrestling forever and starting a traveling cat circus. I knew it was his true calling when he showed me a video of his cats reenacting a move for move Ospreay vs Ricochet match.
The news of this traveling cat circus is surprising, but based on the end of the match we should have seen this coming. Clearly Malakai Black has been preparing his ventures outside of the pro wrestling industry but knew to succeed he needed something still connected to the industry he once excelled in. Taking pro wrestling back to the 19th century carnival days, and doing it with cats.
Hopefully these cats expand upon the training Teddy Hart once provided to cats in the pro wrestling ring, and based on King’s observation of the cats performing Ricochet versus Will Ospreay move for move, anticipation is high for this venture. The likely place to find cats with the right ability and cognitive logic for pro wrestling would be found in Turkey, where the feral cats of Istanbul have been known to be more fierce than any pro wrestler alive.
Black has limited experience in promoting pro wrestling events, let alone cat wrestling or circus cats, but if he brings the type of passion to circus cats he brought to spooky aesthetic? He should at least be moderately successful.
Despite Brody King being a figure one can trust in a business full of liars like pro wrestling, it should be remarked that this is just rumour. He also mentioned the rumour of Nyla Rose being a ringleader. I’m not sure how AEW President Tony Khan feels about losing two stars to this circus cat venture, or if he has any hand in helping fund it. With AEW’s US TV deals now locked up with Warner Bros Discovery he might have the financial peace of mind to help such a business opportunity.
The only other detail we know is the cat circus won’t be televised or broadcast on pay per view due to no cameras allowed under the circus tent. You have to see it to believe it and tell all your friends, a risky proposition in today’s social media society but would ensure the content of the cats cannot be fed to an AI engine to replicate their movements.
Malakai Black leaves All Elite Wrestling as a former Trios champion. It’s hard to say what will happen to the rest of House of Black. Buddy Matthews also lost to Adam Cole but it didn’t lead to him leaving the wrestling business. Unable to recreate the NXT magic of Blake and Murphy with Wesley Blake rejoining WWE as a trainer, Buddy will have to find something else to do to carry him at least to Grand Slam: Australia so he can perform in front of the AEW fans in his hometown.
As for Brody King, I’m sure he will welcome a new change of pace without having to move back into House of Black trios matches all of the time. His match with Darby Allin at WrestleDream felt like a new lease on his singles career, though we haven’t seen much since from him. Maybe the sight of the cats wrestling has him worried about the prospects of his future in this business, or maybe he made the cat circus public to put pressure on Malakai to let God’s Hate perform to open the shows.
Either way, GrapPro will continue to follow all developments on Malakai Black’s Cat Circus, since it’s the most exciting pro wrestling news since Andreza Giant Panda lost to Big Man Vader. Please don’t tell me it’s made up. I need this.
