Malakai Black Talks Cody Rhodes Feud, Depressed With His Final WWE Run, More

AEW superstar Malakai Black was recently interviewed on the Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast to discuss his recent feud with Cody Rhodes on AEW Dynamite. 

Check out the highlights below:

On his final WWE run:

"The last 8 months, when I got pulled off TV at WWE, I wanted to change a few things because I was pretty depressed at the time because everything did not go the way that I was promised it would go. I really started not caring again. I went to the point where I didn’t really care. I let myself go because I was depressed. I remember very vividly going, ‘All right. C’mon. Get out of it. Stop it.’ I asked Pepper Parks who his nutritionist was. I signed up with him. That’s been the biggest change. Now I have someone who holds me accountable which is really good. I’ve always enjoyed the process of training. I’ve never been the biggest weight trainer in the world, but I like powerlifting because it makes me train towards a goal. I will say the last 8 months, that has changed a little bit towards bodybuilding and stuff. It will never be fully my thing. I need a focused goal that I can see where I can be able to lift 10 extra pounds in the deadlift, or be able to push a little more weight on the bench press. I like that stuff because it feels like I’m actively doing something. I think that right now we’re doing pretty good. I feel good. I lost a lot of unwanted body fat because I was 217 when I got off TV. I was not a good 217. I was a very miserable 217. I got all the way back to 191. Then I started building back up. I’m about 210 now again, but I’m a very different 210 than when I was 217 or even when I was 210. It’s a very different 210. It’s just interesting to see what your body does when handled correctly. I have a feeling that’s what we’re doing currently."

On working with Cody Rhodes in AEW:

“I told Tony. I said, ‘Look, I got this idea. This is how I view it. What do you think?’ Tony said, ‘I love it. I love everything about it.’ He was confident enough to give me a shot at it. I clearly owe a lot to Cody. Cody and I think very much alike in a lot of things which was very pleasant. I laid out what I wanted to do, and they both really thought this is cool, and it worked. With their respective feedback into it, because at the end of the day, obviously I still work for someone else, and I still have to get their opinion, I have to get their clearance. Luckily, I got clearance. Everything he and I did played out exactly the way I envisioned in my head, and the payoff worked. It was fun.”