Darby Allin is reflecting on one of the biggest moments of his career, and why sharing it with Sting made it even more meaningful.
Allin captured the AEW World Championship by defeating Maxwell Jacob Friedman on the April 15 episode of Dynamite in Everett, Washington, marking a major milestone in his rise to the top of the company.
In the lead-up to the match, Sting was shown offering Allin some final words of advice backstage. After the victory, the WWE Hall of Famer joined his longtime protégé in the ring to celebrate the emotional title win.
That moment clearly stuck with Allin.
Speaking in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Allin opened up about how much it meant to have Sting present. Not just for the victory itself, but for what it represented on a personal level.
“Having [Sting] there, I’ve said it to him before in private — I look up to him outside of the ring like no other,” says Allin. “The fact that he’s climbed to the top of the sport, and he’s been the most humble, cool guy in the world, that’s all I ever wanted.”
Allin made it clear that maintaining humility has always been a priority, even at the height of success.
“I didn’t want to let any of the ego or the fame consume me, because this is just a 15-minute ride. I want to look at myself in the mirror when this is all done — and now I’m looking back at — and I feel Sting is the quintessential guy for that.”
He continued by emphasizing how important it was for Sting to see that those lessons were being applied in real time.
“He’s so grounded. So to have him there, it was amazing. It was amazing because he could see that I was taking notes from him, and I didn’t walk around like I was the king of the world afterwards. I’m very grateful for it all.”
Sting also weighed in during the interview, offering insight into his relationship with Allin and drawing an interesting comparison to his own history with Ric Flair.
While noting that his dynamic with Allin differs from his storied rivalry with Flair, Sting believes there’s a similar mutual recognition of potential.
“I had somebody like Ric Flair that had the ability to make or break me. And I think I probably had the ability to do the same thing with Darby, even though we weren’t opponents, we were on the same team,” Sting says.
“But I saw something in him, he saw something in me, and the rest just clicked.”
A full-circle moment for Darby Allin.
And a passing-of-the-torch vibe from Sting.
Allin is set to defend the AEW World Championship for the second week in a row on tonight’s AEW Dynamite show from Fairfax, Virginia, where he is scheduled to face Brody King.
Make sure to join us here at WrestlingHeadlines.com tonight at 8/7c for live AEW Dynamite Results coverage.
