During a recent interview with the Bleacher Report, Darby Allin commented on who he gets feedback for his vignettes from, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On how much progress he’s made as a talent in AEW: “(It) definitely came a long way with just noticing all the fans taking notice of your work. But at the same time, it’s a work in progress because I know there’s a lot of s**t I need to do to make it to that next level … Just keep proving people wrong. Walking in here back at Fyter Fest, a lot of people were kind of like at first, ‘Who’s this skinny little dude?’ But a lot of those people have, over time, shut their mouths and taken notice of what I can actually bring into the ring and I’m not just a crash test dummy.”
On looking to prove people wrong about him: “I am powered by that negativity. You can look at a lot of people, the best times in life are either A: they’re angry, or B: they’re sad. And that goes for everybody. Musicians, some people write their best songs when they’re pissed off or sad. So negativity’s never going to go away with people, so it’s always there, but it kind of just drives me to wake up and not be in the place I was seven years ago and just feeling lost and not knowing what’s next in life, and just hoping, one day, things will break out. It’s about never getting comfortable. That’s the word I’m searching for. Complacent or comfortable. I just stay far away from those two phrases.”
On where he finds his inspiration for his wrestling work: “Real-life people, whether it’s musicians and s–t like that or skateboarders. I don’t know what it is. I respect the hell out of wrestling. It’s like what I live for. But for some reason I just don’t feel like I would’ve clicked with those human beings, back say in the ’80s, or ’70s, or maybe the ’90s, you know what I mean? So when I look at like some punk rockers or some skateboarders, I really feel like those people I would have blended with. So why not use that energy when you enter this world of wrestling?”
On who he works with in AEW on his vignettes: “I send it to Tony. First thing I send it to Tony and then I’ll send one to Cody. Jericho too, I’ll send him s**t. Just like, ‘Yo, look at this.’ It’s not, like, so much to be hoping that they’ll put the thumbs up. Because I know that they’ll like it. It’s just that I just want to share my art with certain people before it gets on air. Just being like, ‘Tell me your thoughts on this.'”
On his immediate goals: “The company’s just started, it’s still fairly new. For somebody like me to get in a spot and to have their faith. Week three I wrestled Jericho, and for them to have that faith, week three, for me to be put out in the main event against Jericho—I considered that a success. The company was willing to put things on your back and willing to feature you and as a person that’s in the media as one of the poster children. I want to be featured, I want to be doing everything for the company. I want to do all the media. At the same time, it always changes in my mind. If someone told me I’d be where I am two years ago, I would have said ‘I’m on top of the mountain.’ But then over time obviously you grow and then you think, ‘Wait, this isn’t good enough. I got to keep going and going and going.’ So success always changes.”
On what moment really stands out to him as one where he got the audience’s attention: “I’d say my debut, taking Cody to the max. The fans kind of, like, expected this outcome and then they got a different outcome. I remember after that match, a few weeks later I wrestled at Fight for the Fallen and I remember coming out from my entrance and getting a reaction that definitely wasn’t there a few weeks before. Even though that was before TV, I felt the tides were changing at that point.”
