Darby Allin on His Worst Injury, Scariest Coffin Drop, MJF’s Promos, CM Punk and More

Darby Allin was interviewed by Chris Van Vliet for Insight with Chris Van Vliet. A transcript of some of the highlights is below.

On doing things his way:

“Yeah it was always the plan. For me to do things on my terms and to get as far as possible on my terms, because money is good, but dignity is better. I feel that I have kept my whole dignity intact on my road to success in AEW, which is amazing. But yeah, this is what I dreamed of, having a ring in my basement and a skate ramp. I have lots of crazy sh*t here, I just bring my friends here and we just do crazy sh*t.”

On if AEW is happy with him still skateboarding:

“They know that I am filming a new skate video right now, and I am about done with it. I’m actually coming out with a Darby Allin collaboration with Deathwish Skateboards, I have their logo tattooed on my cheek. So they are coming out with the Darby Allin skateboard and I wanted to put a video out for it, so they know, and I know my own limits. AEW is my top priority, and I can’t show up to there with a broken hip.”

On where his worst injury came from:

“Skateboarding, by far. It’s kind of a crazy story. I was going down this big hill, and I hit a crack at the bottom, my elbow went into my ribs, I thought I broke my ribs. Then my kneecap smashed into the wall, I was laying there and I thought I had broke everything. I was laying on the ground and then I see I am laying in a red ant hill. It just got worse and worse, I thought I broke my wrist, and I had to wrestle next week, it was f*cked up. I was contemplating going to the hospital for 3 hours. I was like if I cough up blood then I will go, but I didn’t, so I didn’t go.”

Why he feels fans relate to him:

“Realness. A lot of people are fake, a lot of people play something on tv, but in reality they are the most boring thing, their personality is like watching paint dry. But with me I feel like it’s like oh sh*t, he’s legit. What you see inside of the ring, I am even crazier on the outside. To me, wrestling is therapy, and the fans see that and take notice to that.”

On if he can still continue with his crazy style in the future:

“Yeah I feel great and my body feels great. We all know that I am straight edge, but people don’t know all of the work that I put in to feel healthy. There is the stretching, the eating right and taking care of myself. Plus I feel like I don’t give my body time to rest, I am either skateboarding or something active. That was the one thing that Tony Hawk told me, he’s like 54 and killing it on the skateboard scene still, he says ‘Just don’t stop. Because the moment that you take a break, that’s when everything starts to feel like sh*t.’ So after I have this crazy match, I’ve got to go to the skatepark or I’ve got to swim or jump out of a helicopter, whatever I have to do.”

The scariest Coffin Drop he has ever done:

“I would say the one to Ethan Page when I had him in the coffin. There was little room for error, and the moment I broke through the coffin, you see the spikes sticking up, I could have easily impaled myself. I could have hit my head on the rim of the coffin too, but there was zero room for error. People were like did you practice that? I don’t know how you practice that, you just gotta [do it]. I didn’t know what was going to happen to Ethan, I crashed through the coffin and all I hear is him screaming. I’m like well I guess I f*cked him up. The cameras are not on him while he is in there screaming.”

On how he found out about the CM Punk match at All Out:

“I was talking to Tony [Khan] on the phone, that was it pretty much. You don’t believe something until it happens, and then once I cut that promo about the best in the world that aired in North Carolina, I knew that it was a done deal and it was go time. That was the high pressure moment ever, because I knew everyone was going to be watching him because it’s such a big thing. Seven years, holy sh*t that’s a long time. For him to leave wrestling the way he did and to come back, people were not sure if he ever was going to come back. So when he did, and I was the first opponent, I was so nervous. I was in a zone, and I’ve been in a few zones in life, but like I was in a zone that day where I was like it’s not going to get more nerve wracking than this. It’s cool to get moments like that because it does make you mentally stronger. But it started hitting me hard because I remember when he left wrestling in 2014, it was the same year that I started wrestling. At the time he was my favorite wrestler. Besides the whole straight edge, it was the punk rock and I don’t give a sh*t what you think about me attitude. It was cool as a kid watching him, but then it hit me. When he left, I was a dishwasher and dude, life is a trip, so I got a little teary eyed before that match.”

On where he would be if AEW didn’t exist:

“Dude I have no idea, and that’s the trip, that’s why I don’t take anything for granted. I work my ass off when it comes to promos, outside of wrestling. Whether it’s Dark, Rampage, Dynamite, when I come to work I am in the zone. I like to be alone, I change in Sting’s locker room, he has his own room. Not because I think that I am better, I just don’t want to be caught up in the dramas. AEW has been great, and I just want to treat it with respect.”

On MJF’s comments in a recent promo:

“Personally I don’t care, because I’ve put that out there into the world, what he’s already said. If you want to do that, go and do that. I think if something happens and you’ve talked about it, then it shouldn’t be an issue. I think if you haven’t talked about it and they say it, it’s like oh what? But it’s cool, I don’t give a sh*t. I just care about the pillars of AEW stealing the show, and no one is willing to go through what I go through to push the story.”