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Darby Allin Is Rising To The Top Of AEW On His Terms
We caught up with Darby Allin about his return, working with Sting, and where he’s going with AEW.
uproxx.com
When Darby Allin rappelled down from the rafters at the conclusion of the 250th episode of AEW Dynamite, there was no question about how far he’s come. He wrestled on AEW All Out, the very first episode of AEW Dark, the second episode of Dynamite, and now is one of the focal points of the entire roster.
“I was there from essentially the very, very beginning of the whole company. You bust your ass, put your head down, and you get to work,” Allin tells Uproxx Sports. “You always get rewarded for that. And that was a payoff for all my hard work.”
The spot, where Team Elite faced off against Team AEW and Allin appeared out of nowhere to even the odds was reminiscent of Sting’s arrivals back in the WCW days. Allin says that decision to come down from the ceiling was him “paying homage” to the Icon, but he’s not trying to “cosplay Sting” and this won’t be a regular occurrence, rather it will be reserved for special moments.
With regards to how it came together, he confirmed a Fightful report that he and AEW CEO Tony Khan met with Martha Hart in Calgary, spoke about his entrance being a possibility, and she said, “Absolutely, I trust your team, you guys are super professional.”
Top to bottom, Dynamite 250 offered another example of their weekly shows being built on exceptional wrestling. For Allin, the difference between current-day AEW and the early days couldn’t be more opposite.
“The shows are just so much better. I feel like you kind of have to throw crap at the wall and see what sticks for the first few years,” Allin says.
“To get on Dynamite, you really have to be good. It’s no longer, ‘Oh, you know, I’m friends with this guy, so I’m gonna give him a hand out and just put him on the show,’ it’s not about that anymore. You gotta put up, you gotta perform and you gotta actually bust your ass or you’re not gonna get on the show and a lot of the people that were not good were weeded out the first couple of years.”
Allin points to MJF and Will Ospreay’s classic as an example of two guys putting on a masterpiece, and the bar that’s been set to get on television.
“It lasted like an hour and it was insane. This isn’t a friggin’ spring break for your buddies to hang out. We’re putting our souls in that ring,” Allin continues. “If you don’t have that chip on your shoulder, I do not want you in the locker room for sure.”
That chip on Allin’s shoulder comes from a dedication to the business and a passion that developed early on in life. If you’d asked him if any of this would ever be possible growing up, the answer is unlikely.
“I don’t even remember my first time watching wrestling because it was always in the background when I was growing up,” Allin says. “At the same time, growing up. you just figure I don’t know if I’d be able to do that. It just seems like such a world of steroids and crap. The fact that times have changed is pretty cool.”
Instead Allin’s journey took him down varied paths, from life as a dishwasher, to film school (which he hated), and eventually he turned to wrestling. In wrestling, tapping into that passion for film has helped separate him from the pack.
“If you do anything outside of the ring to help get fans intrigued with what you’re doing, that’s clearly worked my whole career. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that, all those extra vignettes and everything that I do outside of the ring definitely put me in the position I’m at today,” Allin continues.
More than eight years into his career, Allin has dedicated his body to putting on a show for fans night in and night out. He says he’ll never take the night off because he doesn’t take any of this for granted. He remembers how awful life as a dishwasher was and says you won’t ever see him going out to the ring and playing his greatest hits. Instead, Allin is the underdog, the scrappy fighter who’s going to keep getting up at the count of nine, and won’t stay down unless you make sure he can’t stand.
He’s a disruptor, and when the opportunity to land with a startup ready to change the entire landscape of wrestling appeared, he was determined to make his mark in AEW.
“One of the first times I heard (AEW had) creative freedom, I was like, what’s that? I couldn’t care less if it wasn’t a guaranteed TV thing. I just wanted to be on a company from the ground up, so I’d stop at nothing to get to that company,” Allin says.
Creative freedom to do interesting things alongside Sting is what made the Icon’s final professional wrestling run so special. That and just how natural their partnership was.
“Tony wanted to pair me up with him. But if you don’t have natural chemistry, people are going to see through it right away,” Allin says. “So we had good chemistry. We got along really good outside of the ring and that’s why I felt like it speaks to how his career went in AEW.”
Their chemistry developed right off the bat, from the very first evening they met.
“There was like that essence to him, where he didn’t have an ego or anything like that,” Allin says. “He was actually like, ‘I like your presentation, your videos.’ So I feel like there was a level of trust right off the start with him.”
The trust imparted on Allin to work with Sting was enormous, showing early on the potential Khan and those in AEW see in him.
“I feel like he saw my work ethic and he saw that I could do something with (Sting). You ain’t going to fumble that. You ain’t going to just put Sting with some guy that’s going to waste everybody’s time,” Allin continues.
Allin did all that he could to make every match memorable on Sting’s last ride. And when it came time to put the proper bow on his career, Allin took what he calls the most dangerous spot of his career when he flipped from a ladder inside the ring through a pane of glass being held up by chairs against the Young Bucks at AEW Revolution.
“It wasn’t painful. It just was very dangerous. I’m lucky to have dodged a bullet on that one, even though I got my side sliced open. That was definitely the most risky, if you look at it,” Allin continues.
In a world sometimes dominated by behind-the-scenes politics, Sting gave Allin an outlook on wrestling that things could be different. He says the biggest takeaway from working with Sting was seeing him as “humble and a normal human being outside the ring” instead of letting the wrestling world “eat you alive.”
Across their journey together, Allin has essentially become an extended family member. Just as Allin learned from Sting, Sting’s son Steven, is continuing to train with Allin in hopes of transitioning into professional wrestling.
“He’s still training. He stays outside in the tent in my front yard. And then yeah, it’s still coming. Definitely want to take our time with that and not rush anything. Because we don’t want it to look like, ‘Oh, Sting’s son’s getting a handout and we’re just going to rush him in there and this guy sucks really bad in the ring.’ No, we want to make sure he’s ready to rock, you know, whenever he steps foot in the ring you only get one shot at a first impression,” Allin continues.
“To be there from the very beginning with (Sting) and AEW and him to just let me into his life like this. Now that I can try to help his son, it’s like a full full circle moment for sure because he’s done a lot for me so if I could do something for his son, let’s go.”
Allin’s breakaway from Sting was executed perfectly. But injuries have derailed Allin’s next stage of his career. He broke his foot, was hit by a bus, got hung upside down at Double or Nothing and was kicked in the face with thumbtack shoes, each injury forcing him out of action. And now he’s making his return just in time for the appropriately named Blood and Guts double cage match event alongside Swerve Strickland, The Acclaimed, and Mark Briscoe this Wednesday night.
“If anybody’s sleeping on this match, they’re in for a surprise for sure,” Allin says.
The match offers another chance to kickstart the next stage in his career. For Allin, it’s all about taking things day by day and doing it his way.
“I want to look back and be like all that matters is I did it on my own terms and I didn’t have to change anything,” Allin continues. “I’ve said it before with wrestling companies in the past, they knew they were the only game in town and they knew that they could, you know, ‘Oh, if you really want to be with us, you’re going to have to wear a skirt or a dress or cut your hair or do this or that,’ things that are totally opposite of what you would be doing. And people would say, ‘yes sir, I will,’ and sell their souls. But the fact that I could make it to the top by being myself, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
What’s in focus next for Allin is taking the leap, becoming the face of AEW, and elevating the company to place it hasn’t been before.
“Becoming the face of this company,” Allin says. “That’s literally the whole goal. It’s fun to put your head down and get to work. That’s what excites me, to get more eyes on AEW and just build this whole brand up. It’s so awesome to be there from the ground level and see what we’ve done in six years.”
