Malakai Black Says Match With Randy Orton Was Pitched For WrestleMania 42
Malakai Black seemed to be heading towards a WrestleMania showdown with Randy Orton as the two were intertwined on SmackDown early in 2026.
WWE went in a different direction, with Malakai not making the card and Orton challenging Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title.
Speaking to Xelina & Charlie on ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL, Malakai revealed that the smoking jacket he wore at PROGRESS was originally an idea for WrestleMania.
“I was able to debut my smoking jacket, which is a funny story because four months before WrestleMania, this is not a knock on Seth because Seth had no idea, but I started talking to Jason (Baker), and I said, ‘I have this smoke device, and I want to put it under my cloak, and during our entrance, she would have the remote and when I roll in and sit, she would press the button and smoke would come out of my jacket. Initially, the plan was for WrestleMania because up until that point, the pitch for me and Randy Orton was WrestleMania. Obviously, that never saw the light of day, but I didn’t want to dump the jacket,” he said.
Malakai and Xelina were released by WWE shortly after WrestleMania.
Elsewhere during the interview, Malakai discussed his last year in WWE. You can find his full comments here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
