Darby Allin’s rise through the ranks of professional wrestling has included more than its share of falls, literally and figuratively — some of them right here in Orlando.
In 2017, Allin jumped from the Gilt Nightclub balcony into a wrestling ring with a folding chair taped to his back, a testament to the pain he was willing to endure.
Around the same time, he lived in his car for two months in an Orlando store parking lot, a different kind of sacrifice to save money and continue pursuing his dream.
Today, Allin’s dreams are coming to fruition. He’s one of the top stars in All Elite Wrestling, which is coming to Addition Financial Arena on Wednesday (Jan. 21) with an edition of AEW Dynamite, airing live on TBS and HBO Max.
Allin sees both Orlando experiences — just over a year into his wrestling career — not as traumatic events but as means to an end. The dive off the balcony, a trust-fall-type maneuver he calls the Coffin Drop onto Shane (Swerve) Strickland and John (Johnny TV) Hennigan, was the climax of a Major League Wrestling main event at the now-defunct club off East Colonial Drive.
“That was a very pivotal point in my career where every single night I was going out there, it didn’t matter if it was 10 people or 200, I was on a mission to show what I was capable of,” Allin told the Sentinel last week. “I lived in Orlando for a total of about nine months; that was the first time I thought about being homeless and the first time I actually did it.”
Allin, who turned 33 last week and now lives on his own 14-acre compound in Georgia, has been an AEW stalwart almost since its founding in 2019 — he’s a two-time TNT champion and had a memorable stint as tag-team champ with the retiring Sting. But before the 5-foot-8, 165-pound competitor joined AEW, he struggled to stand out.
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The shows he grew up watching often featured larger musclebound stars – even childhood favorite Kurt Angle, at 220 pounds, was on the smaller side. So Allin leaned on what made him special.
“When I first wanted to get into wrestling, I thought there was no way someone like me could fit into this world,” Allin said. “But if you don’t bring the real thing and don’t stay true to yourself, you look so fake and people see right through it. So I decided to say, ‘Screw it, let’s get it.’ … I would rather fail as Darby than do anything else that wasn’t me.”
And who is Darby Allin? An impulsive, extreme, punk-rock loving, skateboard-toting risk taker. A guy who, when he had a couple of unexpected weeks off this fall, bought a plane ticket and flew to Iceland. A guy who flipped his ATV making a 40-foot jump in his backyard a couple of weeks ago. Most famously, he took months off from wrestling to climb Mount Everest last year, planting an AEW flag at the summit in May.
Darby Allin (top, wrestling Wheeler Yuta) doesn’t like to put too many moves in a match, but makes them all count. (Courtesy All Elite Wrestling)
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on that’s super-spontaneous and random, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Allin said.
Some companies might scoff at Allin’s risks or outright forbid them, but that’s why he said he loves AEW, for the creative freedom in and out of the ring.
“Once that bell rings, it’s pretty much 100% what you want to do as a performer,” Allin said. “I wouldn’t imagine having the restrictions they have in other companies. And no other company is going to let me climb Mount Everest or do crazy stunts with Tony Hawk or Travis Pastrana. I take full advantage of that.”
He’s had classic matches in AEW with everyone from technical wizard Will Ospreay to behemoth Brody King, and he’s done it not through eye-popping action but by creating emotional impact. It’s those kinds of matches from the past that he said he learns from the most.
“I like to watch wrestling matches that really stand out without a lot of moves, because I’m not a fan of doing 100 big moves a match,” said Allin, who cited Mick Foley as an inspiration in that regard. “It’s fun to see the emotion and how they carry themselves through a match without relying on big moves or big (false finishes). I just watch how they paced things back then. I’d rather sell and do my thing and have emotions.”
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Allin may not put 100 creative spots in a match, but he makes the big ones count — and some, like that Orlando balcony dive, made some longtime observers wonder if his body would make it much past 30 years old. He’s crossed that threshold now, and he said he’ll keep wrestling as long as he has the passion for it. One secret to that: Even after all the accolades, he said he tries to treat each new match like it’s his first.
“Every time I make an entrance, I have a chip on my shoulder that I have to show everybody what I’m capable of, because I never want to get complacent,” Allin said. “It’s my biggest fear. I watch these guys get somewhere and then start going through the motions. When people in the locker room treat it like spring break, it (ticks) me off. … I have to give everything to wrestling because wrestling changed my life, so I’m going to treat it with the respect it deserves.”