During his appearance on Talk is Jericho, Malakai Black spoke about what he learned most from both Jericho himself and Shawn Michaels during their feud.

"One of the things that (Chris Jericho) did with Shawn Michaels, taught me (how to use facials to express). We're in Shawn's class and he's showing us the angle with his wife involved. You gave the shove, he hits his wife, and you do something with your facials that tells me, 'I shouldn't have done that, but I'm taking full advantage of it.' You didn't say anything. It was a non-verbal cue. I remember seeing that and going, 'I have so much to learn.' It was one of those things where I was like, 'This is what wrestling is.' It isn't all kicks and punches, it's a lot of what you do before, after, and how you connect it. Stuff like that, when I question myself, it's stuff like that that validates that I'm making the right steps."

Jericho interjected with a little info on the 2008 angle that Malakai was speaking about.

"It was Vince [McMahon] who said to me, 'Don't sell it like laughing. Sell it like, oh shit, I shouldn't have done that. Take advantage of it, but deep down inside, you know you went too far and you're gonna die.' It was a great point from him because most heels would be like 'rub your mustache' and this was the opposite. Wrestling really is facials and storytelling and connecting the stories to the crowd."