One of the company’s fastest rising star Darby Allin was recently a guest on an episode of AEW Unrestricted, where he was interviewed by Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone about his career. Darby Allin revealed that his indie match with Pentagon Jr. was huge for his indie career that it was the match that got him noticed by AEW.
This is what Darby Allin said:
“I heard from a friend that Cody was asking to deal with me. I had a match with Pentagon Jr. at Northeast Wrestling on one of their more bigger shows.” “That was actually, I feel like, one of the first matches where I kind of held my own so to speak and wasn’t really so much just out there doing a stunt only. I put a lot into that match, and I was training for that particular match probably for a good two months just with a friend where I’m like, alright, you’re going to do all of Pentagon’s moves to me, and I’m going to try to find all these reversals out of them. I really put a lot of thought that match because those opportunities don’t come often, to have big matches like that.”
Darby Allin then talked about Cody Rhodes contacting him and having a conversation with him about what his goals are and what he wants in AEW. Darby Allin then said he wanted to prove himself, which is why his first match in AEW was against Cody Rhodes.
This is what Darby Allin said:
“I kept messaging Cody and telling him my goals and what I want out of everything. I knew AEW was the place for me because if I fail, it’s kind of my own fault here because I’ve gotten so much creative freedom. If people don’t like it, then so hey man, you got to take a step back, and your s–t’s not working. Here I knew I was going to have a fair chance. Talked to Cody and got the ball rolling.”
“I think he wanted to prove a point with people with me. That’s why my first match here was against Cody. It was good. I really thought what I wanted out of it, I got out of it, but going into it, there was a lot of ‘alright man, you gotta show these people because first impressions are everything. That’s why I like that match. I went like a hundred miles kind of like I do every match. That match I knew I had to get a lot out of it because if I’m in that ring with Cody for example and I s–t the bed, everybody’s going to be like, ‘yo this you put faith in this guy to wrestle you? Come on get out of here.'”
Darby Allin then talked about his match against Chris Jericho validating his hard work and putting him up in the main event status.
This is what Darby Allin said:
“That was a big step. That was huge, because that was week three of TV, for the whole company and especially Chris Jericho because he obviously has a lot to say on who he’s going to want to wrestle.” “It’s not just going to be like ‘yo, we’re gonna have you wrestle some random person.’ He’s going to be like if it’s the main event on Dynamite, he’s got to sign up for it too. So the thing is, for them to have a commitment in me week three to be in that spot on national television, was huge. That was validation for hard work, and it definitely helped because it put me in that stratosphere of I can actually hang with these main event guys, and actually, I don’t look out a place in the main event because I think I did more than enough to show my show toughness that night especially with that hands behind the back spots.”
“I’d say probably either my debut or wrestling Jericho.” “Those because like I said, it’s validation that they had faith to be like here you want to talk this game about wanting this opportunity. You got this opportunity, show us what you got, and I always like that.”
