Over at ESPN, Andreas Hale published a fantastic piece of work today profiling AEW World Champion Darby Allin. It’s mostly a look into the psyche of a man who continually tests the limits of his body for the sake of our entertainment but also his own philosophical leanings. This man is constantly on the doorstep of the abyss, dangling his feet over the ledge, dreaming up the most creative way to fall to the ground/floor/mat/table/glass, etc.
Allin is, in many ways, a throwback 30 years ago, when pro
wrestling started pushing the envelope more and more from the fringe to the mainstream. There were tables, and ladders, and chairs (oh my!) and hardcore stopped being its own genre and became the thing itself. Allin keeps that alive today at the tippy top of one of the top promotions in the world.
The quotes from the Hale piece are what really got me.
Here’s one:
“If the worst that is going to happen to me is dying, so be it,” Allin says. “It’s fine, but it’s not worth sitting by and watching this life go by and doing nothing interesting with it.”
Another:
“Instead of shying away from the fire, I just kept going toward it until I could get into the fire because that pain is what made me feel alive,” Allin said.
One more:
“Half of me feels dead inside,” Allin said. “I live life with one foot in the grave.”
I strongly encourage you to go read the full piece to get all the context for these quotes and a deeper look into the life of the guy leading the charge for AEW right now. Find it here.
