Tony Khan himself has admitted that Darby Allin’s “glass spot” during Sting’s retirement match at AEW Revolution back in 2024 was one step too far.
As a guest on Ariel Helwani’s show, Khan was asked about whether Darby Allin would ever become a main event star.
“I think he is already one of the main faces of the promotion and I have always felt really strong about Darby. Darby is one of our top wrestlers. He has been with AEW since the very first show….He is an impressive person inside and outside the ring. The chances he takes inside the ring are only matched by the chances he will take outside of the ring. He is a crazy stuntman who takes insane risks but he also really loves wrestling,” answered Khan.
He was then asked what he thinks about some of the stunts he does.
“I think he is really brilliant wrestler and he also takes these chances. I think normally they are really calculated chances. The one that I thought was too far, and I will say this to him and I have said this to him a hundred times, in Sting’s last match with the glass in Greensboro, off the ladder through the glass, that was so much and that was the one where I thought maybe it was too much and it wasn’t really the way it was described. It was pretty brutal and that was the one afterwards I said: ‘You are so brilliant about these chances but this is the first time ever where I have probably thought it was way too much.’…He took a huge risk and it worked out,” said Khan.
Previously speaking to the TV Insider he said about the move:
“It has to be something safe. Whenever a wrestler comes in and wants to try something, especially dangerous, I just want to know that there is a safe way to do it. Darby Allin, every time he has ever had an idea for a wild high spot or a crazy move, he has had a rationale and plan. Darby doesn’t take these things lightly. Nobody would have attempted the amount of crazy, wild, death-defying stunts Darby has done in his tenure and made it this far unless they are a methodical, organized planner. In Darby’s case, he is fanatical about finding a way to pull off the impossible and do these incredible, seemingly death-defying stunts. He always finds a safe way to pull them off. He always has a rationale for why he is able to do it. That’s what impresses me, the way Darby plans his matches and his biggest moves.”
Khan was then asked by Helwani what his personal line was as a promoter when it comes to the talent going too far.
“It has to make sense and almost everything we have ever done made sense and the things that didn’t work out I thought they didn’t make sense to begin with. I think that is why over the years we have really refined the process but we have such great, great wrestlers that 99.9% of the time I think everything they do was awesome and I agree with the choices they make but sometimes there is stuff that feels like it is pushing it and absolutely the chances the wrestlers take they sacrifice and they do so much,” he said.
