Malakai Black and the Possession of Tommy End

The story of how Tommy End became Aleister, and Malakai, Black.

Part One: What’s In A Name?

For a lot of professional wrestlers, leaving a company behind also means leaving behind their ring name. This was the case for the wrestler formerly known as Aleister Black, Tommy End, when he left the WWE. However, he decided to bring Aleister along with him, not as a name, but as a character. In the world of Tommy End, “Aleister” still exists, just not in the way you’d expect. 

(In real life,) Tommy has discussed his harsh childhood upbringing. He was raised in an occult religion centered around punishment and a search for individual redemption that would ultimately grant one a peaceful afterlife. In that sense, it doesn’t sound too far off from extreme Catholicism. However, Tommy said that the religion his family raised him in has a very small following of only about 100,000 people. It also seems much harsher than Catholicism in terms of its opposition to affection and interpersonal love. 

A four-minute vignette titled “The Devil Made Me Do It” introduced the world to the new entity within Tommy End, the man who would debut just hours later on AEW: Dynamite. This entity would be known as Malakai Black. The short film offers a first glance into the character Tommy would play coming out of WWE and going into AEW. While this new persona shares some similarities with Aleister, there are some key differences as well. 

Before discussing the transfer from Aleister to Malakai, perhaps it would be best to first discuss what sets them apart. 

Aleister Black

The original name pitched to the WWE was Alistair. However, the Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overheem was still massively popular in the world of combat sports. To avoid being too similar to the “real life” athlete, the name was altered slightly to Aleister.

Many fans draw parallels between Aleister Black and Aleister Crowley, an occultist leader, author, and “the wickedest man in the world” as called by the English media. Born Edward Alexander Crowley, the occultist changed his name during his pursuit of enlightenment and establishment of the Law of Thelema. Though he had a dangerous reputation among some, especially newspapers and the upper classes, Crowley found a lot of devoted followers through his teachings. 

Crowley is very much an antihero in history, much like Aleister Black was during his time in WWE. The character of Aleister Black has a lot of thought behind it, including the character’s abusive father and traumatic upbringing in occultism (both elements, as noted earlier, mirror Tommy’s own life). What’s important to note, though, is that despite his dark past, Aleister wasn’t a bad guy himself. Rather, he was a man haunted by his upbringing and deeply affected by a looming sense of guilt. 

Malakai Black

Tommy chose the Dutch spelling of the Hebrew name Malachi for his newest character. The name comes from the biblical Book of Malachi, featured in both the Christian Bible and the Tanakh. The name translates to “messenger of G-d,” but may have also simply been the word for prophet. 

Malachi is the last of the 12 prophets in the Tanakh. His Book encapsulates the theme that’s present throughout all of the former prophets’ journeys; mankind will always give in to sin, no matter the guidance G-d provides them. The Book ends on a rather ominous note, promising the coming of a prophet to help G-d’s people one last time before a reckoning comes. Malachi writes:

I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord, that he may turn the heart of the fathers back through the children, and the heart of the children back through their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with utter destruction. (Malachi 3:23-4)

 The House of Black could be Malakai’s attempt to cull his herd in the coming of an imminent reckoning, or Judgment Day. Or, perhaps Malakai himself could be the embodiment of a reckoning. Malakai’s black mist has the ability to corrupt its victims, though every victim in AEW has reacted to it differently. Since Malakai’s character is still developing in AEW, only time will tell what the extent of Malakai’s seemingly supernatural powers is, or if they’re even supernatural at all.

For the sake of this analysis, “Tommy” will refer to the man himself, independent of any demons or entities like Malakai or Aleister. We haven’t seen Tommy by himself in quite some time, so it’s unclear what the man is really like or how he’s changed after all these years. We could probably assume demonic possession has influenced him in some way, though. 

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Part Two: The Devil Made Me Do It 

On July 7th, 2021, Tommy posted a short film to his Instagram profile titled “The Devil Made Me Do It.” The caption to the post read as follows:

I often wondered how many more there were, like in my head? Those voices. I don’t know which I prefer, the endless silence or the constant dialogue. I find them both equally frightening.

It’s unclear who exactly this quote is coming from. My personal guess is that it’s from Tommy End himself, and the “voices” are entities like Malakai and Aleister. If that’s the case, then this is the only real insight into who Tommy is as a person, independent of these entities; he’s a troubled, confused, scared man who can’t control what’s happening in his own head. 

The vignette opens with a psychologist named Dr. David reading over a patient’s paperwork. The seconds-long shot of the form he’s glancing at gives a lot of exposition at once, so it’s best to break it down. 

Tommy’s Paperwork 

Checked In: April 1st, 2017 

This was his NXT debut, which is not a coincidence. The first instinct may be to think the vignette is comparing WWE to an asylum, but that’s not exactly the case as we’ll see later on. Rather, Tommy’s time in WWE seems to be part of a long dream, or maybe a series of hallucinations. 

Medical History: polyclinical surgery for eye after assault from another patient (07/27/2020) 

It was on the July 27, 2020, episode of Raw that Buddy Murphy (now Buddy Matthews) gouged Aleister’s eye against the steel steps by the ring, as he was ordered to by the Monday Night Messiah, Seth Rollins. This incident, though it was essentially a minor plot point in WWE, has major ramifications in the universe of Tommy End. Though the attack didn’t lead to much within WWE, it seems to have had severe ramifications for Tommy in the long run. It was here that Tommy’s eye was wounded and consequently vulnerable to the demon Malakai’s infection.

The last section of the form is titled “Patient Summary.” It includes Tommy’s symptoms and behavioral issues within the facility. The summary reads as follows: 

• Patient suffers from delusions, often bouts of manic episodes caused by childhood trauma.

• Aggressive tendencies paired with cunning 

• Manipulator 

• Violent physical outburst 

• Has attacked 3 wards so far 

• Fights with other patients 

Some of the items on this list are referenced later on in the video. For example, there are mentions of Tommy attacking a ward and getting into an altercation with another patient (that patient being none other than Buddy Matthews). At the video’s opening, we see Tommy sitting in a padded room being bombarded by whispers and voices, so we can assume that’s an example of the “delusions” referenced on the form. We also see an example of a “violent physical outburst” later on. 

We don’t see any obvious examples of Tommy being manipulative or cunning, however. It could be the case that he himself isn’t as cunning as the entities who possess him and act in his name. We certainly know that Malakai is cunning and manipulative, as shown by his actions toward Cody Rhodes, Fuego del Sol, and Julia Hart in AEW.  Whether Tommy himself is fully in support of these actions, though, is unclear at the moment. 

The Check-In

Tommy is being attacked by voices in his head, sitting in a corner of a padded room. There are seemingly demons— mental, supernatural, or both— surrounding Tommy, but none are really in control of him yet. The scene then cuts back to Dr. David and his colleague, Josh Williams. David tells Williams the two of them have been assigned to have a check-in on Tommy.

“This dude nearly killed me six months ago! Why am I assigned to him?” 

It’s revealed that this won’t be Williams and David’s first check-in with Tommy. We can assume the last check-in didn’t go well, but it’s never explained what exactly happened. The most we get is Tommy asking Josh during the session, “how’s your neck?” likely hinting at Tommy having injured Josh there at their last meeting. However, since Tommy will be in handcuffs this time around, David assures Josh that their appointment will go smoothly.

“It’s healing up very nicely.” 

Tommy comes into the appointment with a bandage covering his left eye. Dr. David removes it for him, which prompts the line above. It’s important to note that when Dr. David takes the bandage off, Tommy’s eye looks normal. This likely means that the “infection,” the coming of Malakai, hasn’t happened yet.

“You shouldn’t get into fights with the other patients, especially Matthew.” 

“You mean be pushed into the stairs.”

“Tom, how many times have we talked about this? That didn’t happen. It’s all in your head.”

This exchange reveals to us that WWE storylines, at least if we are to believe Dr. David, are a figment of Tommy’s imagination. We can assume these hallucinations have lasted for 7 years, the same amount of time Tommy spent as a WWE competitor. Or, maybe in reality, it was the same amount of time Tommy spent as a psychiatric patient in this facility. 

“Last time I’m gonna say this. My name isn’t Tom, my name is—“ 

Tommy is cut off here, so we don’t know what he was going to say. An AEW’s fan’s first guess might reasonably be Malakai, but I personally think he was going to say “Aleister.” Malakai, at least in my understanding, hasn’t possessed Tommy yet. We’re seeing in this vignette the last few moments of Aleister Black before he departs and is replaced by Malakai.

“I don’t think he’s doing real good.”

The lights start to flicker, and Tommy’s head falls to the table. In Tommy’s head, Dr. David and Josh are shouting at him furiously. However, we see in reality that the psychologists are concerned for Tommy’s safety and are simply asking if he’s okay. This is likely an instance of Tommy’s delusions; this brief showing of Tommy’s insanity casts doubt on him as a narrator and could suggest that the fight with Matthews referenced earlier really was just a fight as Dr. David said, not the attack Tommy imagined. 

Dr. David reaches out for Tommy’s hand and asks if he’s alright. Tommy grabs his wrist and looks up at him. Now, his left eye is white. Malakai has taken control of Tommy and has done so by infecting the wound in his eye. Empowered with a newfound strength, Tommyㅡ Malakaiㅡ stands and breaks his chains. 

“Doc, in all the years of digging through my head, you never thought that any of this was real?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Tom.”

“Tom? My name is Malakai.”

Malakai rips apart Dr. David’s throat before attacking Josh. He holds the psychologist against the wall. The lines above are the last exchange between Josh and his patient before Josh presumably dies a very gruesome death. We see that Tommy’s consciousness is no longer in control of his bodyㅡ if it ever was at all. Whether it was Tom or Aleister talking to the psychologists previously, from now on it’s Malakai in control and looking for vengeance. 

“The devil made me do it, woah-oh-oh-oh. It was the acts of a man possessed, now.” 

We see a different man leave the room compared to the man who came into it. He’s no longer in the white garment given to him by the facility. Rather, he’s looking devilishly handsome (haha!) in a black suit. The iris of his left eye is white, indicating Malakai’s presence. 

As he walks away from the crime scene, Malakai sings the chorus of “The Devil Made Me Do It” by the band Golden Earring. The song tells the story of a man who was driven to steal luxuries (namely a fur coat and a BMW) and gift them to a woman. While Tommy presumably doesn’t act out of love, he is possessed by a similarly strong force in the form of Malakai. Additionally, the Golden Earring is a Dutch band and thus earned some favor in Malakai’s mind.

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Unidentified  Figures 

Subject 1 (as seen in “The Devil Made Me Do It”) 

Throughout the vignette, two seemingly demonic figures flash on the screen a few times. One of these is a warped, distorted version of Tommy. The other entity is a tall figure dressed in all black. The mask of the latter is later worn by Malakai on the independent scene.

Subject 2 (as seen in “The Devil Made Me Do It,” along with a picture of Malakai wearing an identical mask  at Prestige Wrestling)

It’s very unclear who these figures are or what they represent. My best guess is that they’re the manifestations of the demons in Tommy’s head, but beyond that, it’s very foggy. Maybe since we see Malakai wearing the black mask in person, the black figure is Malakai as he looks outside of Tommy’s mind.

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Part Three: Malakai Black in AEW 

Malakai’s presentation is largely inspired by the Celtic god Cernunnos, “the lord of wild things.” Cernunnos isn’t exactly a benevolent spirit, but not quite evil, either. He’s typically depicted with stag antlers on his head, sitting cross-legged. He holds a snake in one hand and a bag of coins, a cornucopia, or grain in the other. He’s seen as a god of fertility, and hunting, along with a symbol of masculine energy. 

On one hand, Cernunnos is the root of a lot of Christian satanic imagery. In Celtic mythology, though, Cernunnos is known as a peacemaker of the wild who could bring prey and predator into communion.

Cernunnos’ status as an antihero of sorts very much parallels Malakai’s presence in AEW. While he is menacing, cunning, and violent, Malakai seems to believe he is acting for some greater good.

Malakai’s theme song in AEW is “Ogentroost,” a song by a post-metal Dutch band, Amenra. The lead singer of the band, Colin van Eeckrout, broke down the meaning behind the song’s title: 

It's not possible to translate because it's a word that doesn't even exist in our language. The song "Ogentroost" is two words that I put together:  ogen is "eyes" and troost is to comfort someone. I put those two together into "eyes of comfort." It sounds simple in English, but in my language, it sounds poetic and it makes sense. It's that look in someone's eyes when you were a child and you're really sad. Your mother comforts you, and she has this way of looking you in the eyes that is incomparable to anyone else.

The image used in that song is based on war-torn symbols. Here in Flanders and Belgium, there's still a lot of war memorials and war graves. It's a part of our culture here. (Revolver Magazine)

The song describes the death of a child, though it’s never explained what exactly the child is dying from. We see the boy’s parents panicking during their son’s final breaths, and then mourning the loss of their child. The last lines of the song are of particular importance to Malakai Black in AEW. They read:

My bones broke

As I stood before you.

Broken,

Now

Awoken

Since the song is in Dutch, I can’t guarantee an accurate translation and won’t attempt one. This line, though, is featured on one of Malakai’s t-shirts so I think we can assume it’s correct. The word “awoken” presumably applies to Tommy now that he’s been possessed by Malakai’s spirit. Where he was once a broken man, institutionalized and haunted by voices in his head, Tommy now has a new spirit (or demon, or deity,) guiding him forward. 

Malakai Black is a harbinger of doomsday. His entrance to the ring reflects this; every aspect of Malakai’s ring entrance is planned; the performance represents the cycle of dawn till midnight. 

At first, a bright light shines from behind Malakai. This represents the start of the day; sunrise. The light stands at its highest when he stands on the turnbuckle, representing the time when the sun is brightest and highest in the sky. Finally, midnight strikes as Malakai sits in the middle of the ring. It represents that everything, and everyone, will come to an end no matter what.