Darby Allin Reveals What He And Jeff Hardy Have Bonded Over
AEW's Darby Allin is looking forward to his match against Jeff Hardy on tonight's AEW Dynamite. The two have been closely connected since Hardy made his AEW debut in March and Allin says their connection is one that goes beyond professional wrestling.
"It's the way I see him live his life outside of the ring, the stunts and the craziness that kind of draws me to him," Allin told the New York Post. "I don't get that from a lot of wrestlers. I don't think I get that from any wrestlers. Nobody excited me outside the ring. To have that feeling with somebody, I'm like damn.
"So the first time I talked to him, we're like, 'Hey, you like to jump off of big s—t. I like to jump off of big s—t. You like dirt bikes. I like dirt bikes.' It was really like an organic relationship. It was super fun. For us to have that one tag match, me, Sting, Matt, and Jeff down in Texas – that was also a lot of fun. It just feels very normal.
"People thought this was a dream match and, yes, it's a dream match for me, but man this came really quick. I was expecting it a little bit down the road to be honest. This came really quick but now's better than never. Wednesday, I don't know what to expect. It's gonna be an interesting one."
Darby Allin and Jeff Hardy are meeting in one of the three Owen Hart Foundation Tournament matches that are being promoted for tonight's Dynamite and Allin concedes he has looked up to Hardy since he was a young fan.
"From an artistic standpoint it's been really cool because growing up and once I started getting older and in like junior high and high school, you can't relate to a lot of people in wrestling, especially for someone like me," Allin explained. "I was just skateboarding the whole time. I couldn't relate to a big guy on steroids. It wasn't gonna happen. But I could see a guy like Jeff that's like a daredevil.
"It really drew me in because I was doing daredevil stunts on my skateboard. So I was like, man this is really interesting. I remember watching some of his stuff when I was like 6 years old and I would climb on top of this piano at my old house in Seattle and try to do a Swanton (Bomb) off of the piano onto the concrete floor. That was my first introduction to trying to emulate Jeff Hardy."
Darby Allin has grown his own legion of young fans since he joined AEW and was asked what it was like to start forming his own Sting-like fanbase.
"It means the world to me," Allin said. "Just to have this different approach to wrestling, a lot of young kids who may not feel they can relate to a lot of wrestlers, they can see me. It means the world to have anyone call you a hero."
With the two AEW stars seemingly hitting it off some fans have wondered if they have had a chance to hand-out off-screen.
"Not yet," Allin admitted. "I invited him to Travis Pastrana's house last week and he's gonna go meet me there and we're gonna go jump dirt bikes. It did work out time wise for him flying in a day early, which is probably for the best because who knows, both of us probably would have ended up falling hard on something.