Malakai Black (formerly Aleister Black in WWE) holds his AEW rivalry with Adam Copeland in high regard, placing it among his all-time favorite career programs.
Speaking on the Wrestling the Rap Game podcast prior to leaving AEW, Black reflected fondly on the feud, which culminated in a brutal Barbed Wire Steel Cage match at Double or Nothing 2024 where Copeland won the TNT Championship but suffered a broken leg.
“The feud with Adam Copeland is by far one of my favorite things that I’ve done in wrestling. It’s in my top five,” Black stated. “Him and me, we kind of meshed that whole feud together and he went to Tony and talked about it. We got a lot of the stuff we wanted to do, we got that in. I’ve always wanted to work with him.”
Black praised Copeland as a collaborator and mentor: “He’s one of those people I talk to very frequently to kind of relay stuff to. ‘Hey, what do you think of this,’ and he’ll give me his feedback… When we finally got to work together, it was everything I wanted it to be.”
He singled out their cage match, despite significant blood loss. “The cage match was definitely one of my favorite matches in AEW. He was very giving and we had such a blast in there,” Black recalled. “I remember, I lost so much blood in that match. They calculated that I lost about a pint and a half… It added so much because you don’t see me bleed that often… That cage match had to be violent and we absolutely added a level of violence in there… That whole feud was one of my absolute favorite things. I’m glad I got to do it.”
Separately, Black estimated he has “between five and eight years left” wrestling before age and accumulated wear and tear likely force him to retire.
(H/t to Fightful for the transcription)
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