AEW star and current TNT champion Darby Allin recently spoke to Inside the Ropes to discuss all things pro-wrestling, including how he blew up Cody Rhodes’ phone to get signed, and the creative freedoms he has within the company. Highlights are below.
How he reached out to Cody Rhodes telling him he needed to go to AEW:
Yeah, I just heard that he was interested in hiring me. And the moment I heard that, I just blew his phone up and I was like, ‘Dude, I need this, I need this. Like, there’s nowhere else I want to go. I want to have my creative freedom there. This is it, get me involved.’ So I just called him off the hook.
How AEW offered him creative freedom:
When I heard the words ‘creative freedom’, you know, if I’m going to make it in this world, I’m going to do it as Darby Allin – no-one else. I’m not going to have anybody change who I am. So AEW is my calling card.
Describes a particular stunt he performed by setting himself on fire:
We flew out to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area to go film at a church my friend bought, he painted the whole thing black and we flew out there and I set myself on fire in the church and nobody even had any questions. They were just like ‘Yeah, you do you, dude.’
