Darby Allin took time for some Q&A with The Post’s Joseph Staszewski ahead of facing Jon Moxley — with a future chance to face AEW World champion Bryan Danielson on the line at Dynamite Grand Slam from Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, TBS)
(Edited for clarity and length)
Q: On Collision, you talked about a war coming, with Jon and his, this new faction. Why do you feel like you’re going to be the best person suited to lead the opposition?
A: I understand what AEW’s done for me, my whole entire life, and what it’s done for my friends and family’s lives. I told people, I had my dad actually retired because of AEW. I could make enough money to have him retire, not work some crap-ass job into his 60s.
I feel like I’m the perfect spokesperson for AEW in the sense of, you can take a guy that was never really supposed to make it, but you give him a little creative freedom and tell him he can do anything you want. And then I blossomed and was able to connect with the fans like crazy. And I just feel like I am the perfect guy for this role to lead everybody. I represent AEW to a tee of like, what you can do with a place like this.
Q: What’s different about this version of Jon Moxley than the one you had looked up to?
A: I think before, he was more trustworthy, even though, if he had a chip on his shoulder, he was trustworthy. But now, the fact that he’s done what he did to Bryan Danielson. I said before I would never take a plastic bag and put it over Sting’s face, someone I consider family. To burn that bridge with Bryan, you can’t respect that. He’s also a lot more dangerous. I feel like too.
Q: People have made a big deal about, hey, Bryan still may wrestle against Nigel McGuinness if he’s ready at Grand Slam. You gave up that match with him right away. Do you still like it better that you have to go through Jon to get to Bryan?
I didn’t know when Bryan’s gonna be medically cleared. So I didn’t want to sit around. Like, I didn’t want to take advantage of a guy who’s not 100 percent. When I become the face of this company, I want to do it with no excuses. Like, I want to be Darby won that, he didn’t beat a guy that was 50 percent. I want to be the guy who’s at 100 percent.
I feel like if I start running away from challenges before I’m champion, what am I doing? So I was like, dude, I got to do this with Moxley, because I’ve wrestled him three times. I’ve lost all three times, and it’s something I got to prove to myself, because I told you, like he was my guy. I aspired to be like him in my first year in wrestling. So if I could beat someone like that, then mentally, I know I’m, like, totally worthy of the world championship.
Q: Does it feel like at this point in your career the focus has to turn to a world championship?
A: I feel like there’s only so many times you can come close. Pretty soon you’re going to actually have to do something. I feel like, mentally now I’m so ready. Maybe Jon was right, like, five years ago. I wasn’t ready. Two years ago, I probably wasn’t ready. But now I’m so mentally focused. It’s like, I’m so ready to be this guy.
Q: What’s the biggest way you’ve developed or evolved as a performer over the last five years in AEW?
A: As an AEW original with no, no TV experience beforehand, kind of got put in the deep end there and just to develop kind of in the deep end. And a lot of guys I feel like that were AEW, originals when they got thrown on national TV they panicked, and I felt like they kind of dropped the ball on themselves. But me, I flourished, and I just really showed everybody that I’m capable of being in there with whether it be a Danielson, whether it be a Moxley, whether it be a (Chris) Jericho, whether it be, you know, X, Y and Z, Cody (Rhodes), (CM) Punk.
Q: Does that make you the person who can say to Evil Uno in that TV segment that you have to find that thing inside you and find a way to go back to your true self or find a way to evolve? Do you feel like throughout wrestling and even people in the company that need to hear that every so often?
A: A lot of people need to hear that. We have to wrestle with the sense of urgency. We have to wrestle with the chip on our shoulder. We can’t get complacent. Because if you want to get complacent, get lost. Like, I do not want you in the AEW.
Q: What’s been the same about the company at its core now, five years later, and in what ways have you seen it evolve in that time?
“There’s a lot more in-depth stories, which is obviously going to happen because we’ve been five years as opposed to one year. And I think the big part is just like character development. A lot of guys on the first year, it was like, hey, like these guys are from the indies, and we know they can have cool matches, but why should we care about them from a character standpoint? Why should we care if so and so can do a 630 or whatever. But now I felt like a lot of people have gotten more time in front of the national TV audience, to actually blossom. There’s a rhyme for the reason now as apposed to just this is a cool dream match.
Q: Do you feel like there’s still some unfinished business with Jack Perry when he’s the first person to beat you in a coffin match?
A: There’s always an unfinished business with everybody. But right now, I can always go back to that. But the thing is, like, I like to follow where the wind takes me, and the winds taking me to Jon Moxley, and the winds taking me to the world championship. At the very moment, I have to let things go with Jack, but doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten, you know what I mean. It’s just more staying on the path because he’s always going to be there unless he gets fired.
Q: What has it been like working with this Scapegoat version of Jack Perry?
A: Honestly, it sounds crazy, but it’s awesome. Because when he was Jungle Boy, I felt like it was just too hokey and had a shelf life, if that makes sense. Like there was a glass ceiling with Jungle Boy, and then when he first became a bad guy, Hollywood Jack, or wherever the hell he was it just wasn’t believable. Nothing he was doing was believable. It felt like a horrible made-for-TV Lifetime, movie network character.
If anybody’s benefited from the incident that happened last year at All In, it’s Jack Perry, because now what he is, I feel like, is kind of where he always needed to be.
Q: Obviously, after that match with him, we see Sting return for one more moment to help you out. What did it mean to maybe get one more moment with him? Or has there been any discussions about ways to bring him back here and there, when it might be right?
A: I think the next evolution of anything to do with Sting moving forward is getting his son ready to actually be a wrestler. He’s training with me right now. He’s training with Adam Copeland. Sting’s time and wrestling, I would like to think is never actually done in the sense of, like his in ring is done. He’s a man of his word. He’s not going to come out of retirement, that’s for damn sure. I think he’s gonna pass on the next legacy, and it’s gonna be through his son.
Q: How has Steven’s training been evolving?
A: Right now is focusing on Steven and not so much Sting. You can’t just be like, I’m Sting’s son. You got to give the fans a reason to care about Steven Borden. And I think that’s like, our big thing is just being like, ‘why should people care for you?’ Strip away everything that your dad’s done? Well, why should people care about you?
Q: The talk around the company right now is the TV deal that hopefully is going to be announced soon. There’s obviously some big money figures thrown out there. What would it mean for the company to secure a deal like that?
A: Everybody literally needs to work harder. Once we get a new TV deal, it’s not time to be like, ‘oh yeah let’s celebrate.’ Like, which is fine, I think when someone makes a lot of money, they almost feel like they don’t have to work. They feel like people have the best work ethic when they have nothing, they’re broke, they’re like, living paycheck to paycheck. That’s the work ethic we need to have at all times.
Q: I guess the other side is, is it at all kind of a validation of what you guys have done over the past five years?
A: Yeah, absolutely it is validation, but I like to look at wrestling, like music, for example, like you can have like a Taylor Swift and you can have a Slayer. Taylor Swift may sell more than Slayer, but that doesn’t take away from Slayer having such an impact on the whole world of music.
And if you watch AEW, homies are getting needles jammed in their face, bricks broken over their heads, and me going through glass. So I’d like to think that we’re kind of drawing the line in the sand where we’re saying we are not for everybody. So we’re passionate to be who we are, even at that risks losing, you know, key like, certain viewers, but it says we’re trying to play for everybody. We’re kind of staying true to ourselves. And you take a gamble like that, and you know what I mean, it’s not always about, like, how much people are watching. It’s about the people that are watching that are, like, super passionate. And it changes, like the game. You can’t argue we have changed the game. That’s for damn sure.
Q: Is that kind of what you say when people feel maybe a level of violence has gotten to a level that some have been obviously concerned with?
A: AEW has been in existence for five years, and we hold the all-time attendance (tickets distributed) record for a pro wrestling event. A lot of stuff happens on a day to day basis, but I think that kind of goes over some people’s heads. But like, if you really stop and think of how insane that is, and the fact that we stay true to ourselves and put our brand of music out into the world and then (not) try to change or anything. That’s massive.
So the fact that we’ve done that, you know, honestly, if someone thinks we’re too violent, go watch something else, because I would be so bummed if I loved a band or I loved the director, and also that director started making soft movies. Sometimes you just have to live to offend people.
Q: What would that mean for you or a younger Darby Allin who’s coming up in the business and watching Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson and to now have those two be the ones in your be your path to a world title? And obviously it’s possibly the end of Bryan’s full-time career.
A: Well, if I could be the guy that beats Bryan and retire him from full-time wrestling, that’s like a passing of the torch. It doesn’t get any bigger than that. That’s like a, like, a moment of pure validation. And it’s not like even being an asshole about it. It’s literally just like, hey, I’m not out there to hurt Bryan. I’m out there to out-wrestle Bryan.
I’m not taking any shortcuts. I want to beat Bryan at his best and I don’t want to cheat, I don’t take any shortcuts, and then you’re going to pass the torch to me, and then I’m going to be like, the guy now, not only the AEW, but just like in the Northwest. Jon, on the other hand, too. Like I said, I’ve been looking up to this guy ever since I’ve set foot into like this industry, and I aspire to be like and so now that I’m here wrestling, essentially, like an idol of sorts, another thing where it’s pretty wild.
