Darby Allin mentored Nick Wayne from a young age and got him an AEW contract before he turned 18. They have formed an alliance on AEW television.
The two also have a back story as Allin was trained by Nick’s father, Buddy Wayne, but they had a falling out that was mentioned on AEW television.
After Buddy’s passing, Allin reconciled with the family and began taking care of Nick. Allin discussed this in a recent interview with Steve Migs. He said,
“It’s not. The thing is, people in wrestling search for the next story and the whole time it’s in front of you. Real life writes itself. I did go to the Buddy Wayne Academy, I started training there, I had no wrestling knowledge before that. I had a big falling out with Buddy where we both said some things. I said, ‘peace out, I’m doing it my way. Screw off.’ I didn’t talk to him for a year and a half, two years, and then I got the call that he died. I was like, ‘Ah, man, that sucks.’ It sucked because I burnt that bridge. It also put in perspective of how petty you can be with holding onto things. Now, through meditation and everything I do through Rick Rubin’s programs. It teaches you to not get mad. I never get angry. It’s cool to know that I don’t hold grudges with anybody. If I didn’t have a grudge against Buddy, at least I would have known before he passed that we were cool. I messaged Shayna after Buddy passed, ‘I know you probably don’t want to see me, but I’m coming over. I need to do this for you, and I need to do this for Nick.’ I went there and I said, ‘I know you don’t want me here, but a man passed away, we need to get over this sh*t now and we need to remember what brought us here.’ I would go on family trips with them and do so much with them. It’s a matter of, ‘I’m part of your family.’ I never lost sight of that. There is a bump in the road. Now, it’s this crazy full circle moment that we’re using that on TV, but also knowing Buddy watching this shit, I think he would be super stoked. Nick has done this on his own. We can all agree that Nick is very talented. It’s not me putting a word in for my buddy. Nick got into it by being Nick. I just pushed him into a spot right when he got here, ‘sink or swim, you’re in the deep end now. We aren’t starting you off with random matches.’ He’s been able to ride with that and adapt to all of that, which speaks to his talent.”
