At AEW: All In London, Malakai Black and his House Of Black lost the AEW World Trios Championships to The Acclaimed and “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn. Having held the titles for 175 days, the brooding faction is the longest-reigning AEW World Trios Champions in history. Prior to dominating the six-man tag division, Black’s last AEW singles match was an AEW All-Atlantic Championship qualifying match against Penta El Zero Miedo on the June 22, 2022, episode of AEW: Dynamite, which he won.
The fact Black has not competed in a singles match in AEW in over a year has spurred a lot of speculation online about possible injury or creative issues. In an Instagram Stories post, Black addressed his lack of AEW solo matches over the last 500+ days.
“Something that I want to quickly address,” he began. “I understand that this is always done from a perspective of caring, so before I say anything, I appreciate the fact that people care and that it comes from a good place, but about a year ago or so, I made a video about rehabbing a back injury that I had and the video shows the process, and I talk about overcoming that injury, strengthening that back, etcetera.
“After the video was posted, people started going with this idea that, ‘Oh, he has a bad back and therefore A, B, or C,’ which is not the case at all. And for some reason, that has found its way back, and again, the narrative is, ‘Well, he’s not had singles matches, etc. because he has a bad back. He nearly retired because of it,’ and none of these things are true.
“Why am I having singles matches? I don’t know. I think it’s because they want us as the House of Black and just six-mans. I was also not in six mans to hide said non-existing injury. Again, rest assured I do not have a bad back, and the reason why I am at home right now is, well, due to a minor injury, which is I had a slight calf tear and hyperextension in my knee, which is almost nursed back and almost ready to go back on the road, etc.
“So, again, I appreciate the concern, but the reality is that I’m fine, and you will see me sooner rather than later. But again, I appreciate the concern.”
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