With a dark personality and unorthodox style of wrestling, Malakai Black certainly has one of the fascinating gimmicks in AEW. The leader of The House of Black has an amazing entrance song, gear, and screen presence to make him one of the best characters in wrestling right now.
Malakai Black was previously known as Aleister Black in WWE, where he also had a similar dark gimmick. The Dutch wrestler, however, is nothing like his on-screen persona in real life, and he is just a regular guy behind the curtain. These pictures of Malakai Black show a different shade of his real-life personality.
10 Malakai Black Without Full Beard & Moustache
One of the significant aspects of Malakai Black's character is his beard. Black has always kept a beard whether in WWE or AEW. Needless to say, the beard adds a new edge to his dark persona in the ring.
But most fans haven't seen him without a full beard. In this picture, Black is looking younger, and he is seen without a full beard. In addition, he has a shaved mustache here.
9 Getting A Tattoo
There is no doubt that Malakai Black is one of the tattooed men in professional wrestling today. The House of Black member has tattoos all over his body, starting from the neck to the legs. His colossal back tattoo certainly stands out the most whenever he wrestles in the ring.
Malakai Black is getting tattooed in this photo by renowned tattoo artist, Paul Booth, who has also inked The Undertaker.
8 Focused In Punching
Malakai Black is a striker in the ring, meaning he wrestles like a striker by delivering amazing punches and kicks. He uses Black Mass as his finisher, which is a lethal spinning heel kick. Given his impressive kicking ability, it is not hard to guess that Malakai Black does work hard on them during training sessions.
Black has a martial arts background, as he is proficient in Mua Thai, Kickboxing, and Pencak Silat. Malakai is striking a punching bag in this picture, which showcases his regular workout regime.
7 Practicing MMA With CM Punk
While Malakai Black has never competed in any professional MMA fight, his passion for different martial arts proves that he is an MMA enthusiast. On the other hand, CM Punk tried his luck in UFC when he was away from professional wrestling. Even though Punk's MMA career was embarrassing, he was courageous enough to step foot in the Octagon, that too in a promotion like UFC.
Malakai Black is pictured with CM Punk in an MMA training facility here. Due to their common interests in martial arts, they certainly have trained together.
6 With Triple H
When Triple H was in the charge of NXT, he treated the talents of the developmental brand like a family. Needless to say, most talents loved him backstage, even though he was a heated heel for most of his career in WWE.
Malakai Black had a fruitful time in NXT, where he not only won the NXT Championship, and he certainly shared a good relationship with The Game. It is a backstage picture of Black with Triple H, who is hugging both Ricochet and Malakai Black.
5 Wedding Photo
Due to his mysterious and dark gimmick, Malakai Black loves keeping the kayfabe alive. Hence, he seldom shares any pictures from his personal life. But just like us, Black also has a normal family life.
Malakai Black is currently a married man. He is married to Thea Trinidad, who is also a professional wrestler and famously known as Zelina Vega in WWE. In this wedding photo, Malakai Black is kissing his new bride. The wrestling couple tied knot back in 2018.
4 Indies
While Malakai Black had signed for WWE in 2016, starting his journey from NXT, his wrestling career commenced more than a decade before his WWE arrival. The Dutchman debuted in 2002 at the age of 17. He worked in independent promotions in the UK and Europe. Besides working in Europe, Black also wrestled in North America and Japan.
Malakai Black used the ring name, Tommy End, in his independent days. This is a picture of Malakai Black wrestling in the indies.
3 With Fans
Like most wrestlers, Malakai Black is obviously a different man when he is not on TV. Wrestlers love to meet and interact with fans. Malakai Black is also not an exception.
This is an out-of-character photo of Malakai Black. He is snapped with a young fan and his mother. Instead of his ring attire, Black is wearing casual clothes here.
2 With The Squad Backstage
During Malakai Black's run in NXT, he was one of the top stars of the black and yellow brand, as he was the former NXT Champion. Black enjoyed a title reign of 108 days. He was friends with a lot of co-workers backstage.
This is a backstage shot of Malakai Black with Roderick Strong and Drew McIntyre. His tattoos are easily visible in this frame, including the gigantic back tattoo.
1 Double Date
When Ricochet and Malakai Black teamed up on WWE's main roster, they obviously became great friends in real life. They had a brief run as a tag team but didn't win the gold.
This is a backstage picture of Ricochet and Malakai Black possibly from the time they were a tag team. Black is seen with his wife Zelina Vega, while Ricochet is with his then-girlfriend, Kacy Catanzaro.