Malakai Black has been pushed strongly since making his AEW debut as he was put into a program with Cody Rhodes that resulted in Black getting a quick win over the former AEW TNT Champion on last week’s Dynamite that was done to write off Rhodes from TV.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it was Tony Khan’s vision for the feud. There are no creative writers in the promotion, but rather, the creative process is typically wrestlers coming up with their own storylines then pitching them to the AEW President.
The storyline was Khan’s plan, which was Black attacking Arn Anderson in Miami then Black beating Rhodes. It was said Khan sold Rhodes on the idea that this was the guy and the time to do that job especially since Rhodes is on a brief hiatus to film the next season of Go-Big Show.
Black did come up with some of the scenarios in between those points including his promo before appearing live about how Rhodes is a horse that needs to be put down.
It’s unclear whether this feud will continue once Rhodes comes back to AEW TV, but Black did take one of Rhodes’ boots as Rhodes was teasing retirement after the match. Black also did a promo about Rhodes this past Wednesday on Dynamite.
