Malakai Black And House Of Black Return To AEW TV
Malakai Black and House of Black made their long-awaited comeback to AEW programming on the 11/23 episode of "AEW Dynamite" in Chicago, IL.
Shortly after Orange Cassidy retained his All-Atlantic Championship against Jake Hager, Cassidy & Best Friends' post-match celebration was cut short by QT Marshall & The Factory, who claimed to have unfinished business with the babyface trio. Just then, the lights went out, following which Julia Hart walked out to the ramp and summoned House of Black with a "rise up" hand gesture.
The trio of Black, Buddy Murphy & Brody King then proceeded to destroy Best Friends as The Factory cheered on from ringside. However, the House of Black would quickly turn their attention to The Factory, wiping out Marshall & Co. with a series of quick strikes before the action spilled to the outside. Eventually, several wrestlers and AEW staffers tried to stop House of Black, only to feel the wrath of the returning stable themselves. The beatdown ended with Brody King hitting Dante's Inferno on a member of AEW's backstage crew, following which Black grabbed a microphone to address the live audience.
"Members of the House of Black, please rise," Black said before the lights went out again and AEW cut to a commercial.
AEW has been hyping the return of House of Black through a series of vignettes over the past few weeks, with the first vignette on the 11/2 episode of "AEW Dynamite" implying that Black, King and Matthews had to be resurrected with demonic rituals following their deaths.
Black has been off AEW television since House of Black's loss to Sting, Darby Allin & Miro at the All Out pay-per-view in September. After that match, Black took a bow to the crowd, hinting at his departure from the promotion. Subsequently, several reports suggested that Black had asked for his release from AEW until Black himself refuted the reports via social media. Through a video message on September 26, Black assured fans that they will see him "in a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months" and that he was only "only taking some time off" to deal with issues in his personal life.
Meanwhile, Matthews & King have been away since their loss to Sting & Allin at "AEW Rampage: Grand Slam" on September 23. Subsequently, Matthews told the crowd at an indie show that he needed to "go away for a while," fueling reports that he, too, had asked for his release from AEW. However, Matthews shot down those claims via social media.