Malakai Black on his ‘dud year’ back in WWE after ‘mountains’ of promises

After a pretty controversial run in AEW, most of us expected Malakai Black to get a decent push in his second stint with WWE as Aleister Black. He started with a winning streak on SmackDown, but the writing was probably on the wall when he didn’t make it into the Money in the Bank ladder match or the King of the Ring tournament. What followed was a long feud with Damian Priest he ultimately lost, and despite a couple shots at then United States champ Ilja Dragunov, Black never really found himself in the midcard title mix. Even with those signs, Black’s post-WrestleMania 42 exit was a shocker. That’s probably why the 41-year-old Dutchman hasn’t said too much about his second WWE run and release while restarting his career on the independent scene in the United Kingdom. Malakai Black, Progress Wrestling Men's World Champion#ProgressWrestling pic.twitter.com/S5ccePp7fp — PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) September 6, 2026 But Black opened up a little bit on his experience workin