"You take it very personal" - Former WWE star opens up on Malakai Black's mental health issues (Exclusive)

Former WWE wrestler EC3 gave his thoughts on the mental health issues of AEW star Malakai Black.

After losing at All Out in a trios match, Black waved goodbye to the crowd and hugged his teammates at The House of Black. It was then speculated that he requested his AEW release.

The Dutch Destroyer later debunked all the innuendos in an Instagram live video, stating that he just took a hiatus to deal with his personal issues.

Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, EC3 revealed that he communicated with Black during the latter's short hiatus from wrestling.

"You know I hope everything goes well for him because I know he had some sort of a kind of things going on so I don't really know. I text him, I did see them and I texted him about them to make sure he's hanging and banging, rock and rolling, said all is good, all is well." [from 2:15 - 2:29]

The former WWE Superstar then discussed how the creative aspect plays a major part in keeping a wrestler's mental health in check.

"When you're such an artist and the art, I know this from experience, the art isn't exactly being portrayed the way you want and you take it very personal and it's almost that is guys like us. That is our therapy as opposed to other vices or even actual professional therapy like creating stuff is what keeps us going creative and if that's not going the right way, sometimes it's like hard to adjust to," EC3 added. [from 2:32 - 2:59]

Watch the clips from this episode:

After a couple of vignettes being aired in the programming, The House of Black returned last week on AEW Dynamite, shattering any doubts about Black's alleged departure.

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EC3 comments on Malakai Black's demeanor getting affected during his time in WWE

As the same episode progressed, EC3 pointed out that Malakai Black was a victim of constant changes after a sensational run on WWE NXT.

The former WWE Superstar added that the current AEW star is just another talent on the main roster.

"Nothing matters of what you know coming into NXT, having like a rockstar push, all the belts and whistles and like the near perfect portrayal of what he [Black] wants to do on like a mainstream level like that's probably the best it could have been. And him, you know being very much a part of it too getting in the rat race of grind of the horrid place we call the main roster so I think as those things were taken away and it just become another guy, it's like nothing matters," EC3 said. [from 4:17 - 4:46]

Black had a five-year run in the WWE before jumping ship to AEW on July 7, 2021. He then formed The House of Black this year with his "Kings of the Black Throne" teammate Brody King and added Buddy Matthews and Julia Hart later on.

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What are your thoughts on EC3's comments on Malakai Black's mental health issues? Sound off in the comments section.

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