"The biggest diamond of the company" - Top AEW heel breaks character to praise Cody Rhodes

AEW star Malakai Black was recently interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel ahead of his match against Cody Rhodes on Dynamite.

Speaking of the upcoming match, Malakai Black broke character to praise his opponent on Saturday night, calling him "the biggest diamond" in AEW. Black went on to explain how much respect he had for the former TNT Champion as an in-ring performer.

"If I’m going to do something, I might as well do it with the biggest diamond of the company. As a wrestler, I can’t say I have anything but respect for him. But to get ahead, you have to cut off the head of the dragon, and he was one of the biggest dragons," Black said.

Malakai Black on his AEW debut

Malakai Black made his AEW debut a month after his contract with WWE expired, making a surprise appearance on Dynamite and taking out Arn Anderson and Cody Rhodes.

Black has since been embroiled in a feud with members of the Nightmare Family, running through Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson before picking up two consecutive wins against Cody Rhodes.

During the interview, Black also opened up about how his AEW debut came about and the conversation he had with Tony Khan.

"That [AEW debut] was pivotal, to be able to make such an impact right away, and being allowed to make such an impact my way,” Black said. “My conversation with [AEW president and creative force Tony Khan] about what I wanted to do with my character wasn’t any longer than 10 minutes and he was sold. Even before [in WWE], when I had handcuffs on [stylistically], my body of work stood for itself, but there’s a lot of trust here in what I can do."

Malakai Black is set to face Cody Rhodes for the third time this Saturday night on AEW Dynamite.