Darby Allin believes many stars took AEW for granted in the promotion’s early days.
Since AEW launched in 2019, the roster has seen many changes, but Darby Allin has been a constant presence since the beginning. The fan-favourite has continued to fly the flag for the promotion everywhere he goes, including the summit of Mount Everest.
Looking back on the early days of AEW in an interview with Forbes, Allin recalled not having any TV experience when he signed with the company in 2019 and being able to experiment to find out what worked.
“I think the bar got set way higher now because you have to remember, it’s year one on TV. We were throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, seeing what stuck because we’re brand new, and a lot of guys like myself never had any TV experience. So we got to see what worked.”
Now, things are more difficult as there’s a higher bar for talent to meet, meaning everyone needs to step up or risk being taken off TV.
“But now the talent is so high, and everybody needs to step up. You aren’t going to be on TV unless you’re literally the best of the best. So, I feel it just shows everybody that no one can coast, no one can just chill, and that’s the beauty of it.
“Because I never wanted to be in a company that felt like me and all my friends have a TV company. I don’t care if I don’t know you. I don’t care if I don’t like you. As long as you care about AEW and you want to produce some of the best, then I want you on my team.”
Darby Allin Believes Some People Were Taking AEW For Granted In The Beginning
Darby Allin went on to explain his belief that many people thought they had a job for life and weren’t pulling their weight to make the company a success.
“I’m not going to say a lot of people—it felt like maybe some people were taking it for granted. Year one, they were treating it like spring break, like, ‘Oh, this is so fun. I got a job for life. I’m just hanging out with my boys.’ They weren’t going there with a mission. But I’m like, ‘I have to show the wrestling world what AEW is capable of because this changed the whole landscape.’
“When I first got in, I never thought it was possible to have another game in town like this. I thought at the time, ‘This kind of sucks.’ And then AEW started, and I thought, ‘I’ll do anything to be part of that company. Anything.’ And that’s where I knew I needed to finish.
“So, I saw the importance of AEW from the beginning, but I don’t think a lot of people did.”
At All In London on August 30th, in a night when multiple championships are on the line, Darby Allin will challenge Kevin Knight for the TNT Title in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
