Before he was exclusively running court on Saturday Nights as the new leader of the AEW World Trios Championship-holding trio, the House of Black, Malakai Black was known as Allister Black the during his tenure in NXT, he looked like he was going to be the next big thing in the WWE Universe.

Sporting an awesome intro, even better music courtesy of Code Orange, and an unstoppable finisher known simply as the Black Mass, more than a few fans were ready to christen Black the second coming of The Undertaker; a moniker that has been bestowed upon more than a few WWE Superstars over the years but has never felt more appropriate.

And yet, for Black, being anointed the “chosen one in NXT” wasn't all it was cracked up to be, as it did more to alienate him from the rest of the locker room than ingratiate him following a long and expansive career on the indies under the Tommy End moniker, as he detailed on The Undisputed Podcast with Bobby Fish.

“I remember when I was the quote-unquote, like, ‘chosen one in NXT,' and I did not have a lot of friends because everybody wanted to be the ‘chosen one,' you know what I mean?” Malakai Black noted via Post Wrestling. “I had a lot of people that did not like me because of that, and I was just going like, ‘I’m sorry, guys.’ I didn’t do anything on purpose. But it was just the way that the industry was at the time and what the quote-unquote machine picked at that time.”

Based on how Black performed during his run in NXT, it's no wonder WWE decided to strap a rocket to his back in order to see if he could become a long-term main eventer for the promotion. While that obviously didn't happen, that had more to do with creative than anything else, as there's no reason Black shouldn't be a main eventer somewhere in the world, as AEW has learned.

Malakai Black reveals his plans to open a wrestling gym with Zelina Vega.

Though Malakai Black remains an active professional wrestler with plenty of interesting in-ring action and angles left before his active days are through, the proprietor of the House of Black has already begun to turn his attention towards the future, with the 20-year vet looking to open up a gym to pass along everything he's learned through his career.

Discussing his desire to teach the next generation of professional wrestling with a focus on Muay Thai with Bobby Fish, Black explained his desire to create a system that can build up complete athletes.

“I have always loved teaching and instructing people,” Black said via Fightful. “Before being fully submerged as a full-time pro, I was a trainer. I worked in rehabilitation from horrendous accidents and helping people cope with development and rebuilding strength. I've always found a lot of joy in having people that came in that could barely bare the light of the gym because of the accident they had to walking out and being able to pull 315 off the ground. I love progression,” he said. “The concept of the gym started when we started building our new house. I told my wife [Zelina Vega], ‘I want a place where I can train and teach people.' I want to create a concept where I can implement all the different things that I feel have made me who I am and have brought me to the levels that I've been to and still am. I want to show that to other people, but I want to do it in a way that is not like, ‘Pay me $50, and I'll teach you how to do springboards.' There is a system, and I want people to go through the system. We will do classes and courses.”

Asked when he plans to open up the gym, Black noted that he doesn't have a hard date in mind but hopes to be taking on students, at least for open gym, by the end of the month.

“I'm hoping to start running trial classes by the end of this month,” Black noted. “By trial, I mean, there's an open workout on Monday night between six and nine, drop $25, you can come train. I'll have separate years of six months to five years, you're a beginner. Six years to ten years, you're experienced, and then there is television talent. Beginners come on down, $25, train, and we'll do a block of pro wrestling and Muay Thai. Next week, strength and conditioning and BJJ. Then I'll just point and see how this is going to work. There are bound to be 10,000 changes, and that's why I'm starting with trial classes, and I'll get feedback on what will work and what won't.”

In professional wrestling, there's a time-honored tradition of stars past and present opening schools to teach their craft to future Superstars. After watching the “Monday Night Messiah” teach the next generation of Superstars like Nathan Frazer at his Black and Brave Wrestling Academy in Davenport, Iowa, it's nice to see the man he “blinded” on RAW get in on the game too.