AEW's Malakai Black Details Issues He Sees In Modern Wrestling

Former AEW World Trios Champion Malakai Black has certainly got his own outlook on life from a character perspective, preferring to dive deeper into the darker aspects of both existence and professional wrestling. However, the man behind the persona has opened up to the "Developmentally Speaking" podcast about some of the more traditional issues he has with wrestling in 2024.

"Wrestling is very accessible nowadays, a little too accessible in my opinion," Black said. "I feel the training has diluted a lot, there's a lot of water added to the wine where I feel like a lot of the principles have gotten lost. I'm very proud that I kind of still received more of a traditional style of training, because believe me, the 290 pound, 6 foot 5 prototype monsters were not excited to train with a 6 foot skinny kid from Amsterdam."

Black went on to explain how there are people he hears talking about the business despite only being in it for a third of the time he has, and thinks they still have so much to learn. He also went on to explain how the wrestling business needs to be more strict, as it used to be an industry that was more emotional and talked social issues that reflected what was going on in real life, as opposed to what it currently is now where it's more of a showcase. "Wrestling needs less Michael Bay and more ... a little bit thought provoking methodology." Black expressed that his comments weren't an attack on anyone's ability, as he acknowledged that there are people who can do things he could only dream of, but feels that there needs to be more care put in to what people do in and out of the ring.

Please credit "Developmentally Speaking" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.