AEW World Champion Darby Allin discussed various topics with ESPN, including his risks both in and out of the ring.
Allin said, “If the worst that is going to happen to me is dying, so be it. It’s fine, but it’s not worth sitting by and watching this life go by and doing nothing interesting with it.”
On his parents’ reaction to his stunts as a teen:
“There’d be nights I’d be in the backyard in our house in Washington and I would have this huge gas tank and I’d be pouring it on a baked potato that I lit on fire so we [my brothers] could play actual hot potato at three in the morning. And then the flames shot up in the gas tank while I was holding it in my hand and the gas tank blew up in my hand, broke my finger, burned the skin off my brother’s leg. My parents came out and they were just like, ‘He’s going to kill himself or do something insane.’ But that’s just because I was thinking my life was going to amount to nothing, so I needed to feel something.”
On being inspired by The Hardys at WWE WrestleMania 17:
“[Jeff and Matt Hardy] definitely made me feel like it was possible because it wasn’t about their physique. It was more about whatever they’re willing to endure for the crowd.”
On his Mt. Everest climb:
“Everything I had done in my life is fast and with crazy adrenaline. Climbing Mount Everest is risking your life in the slowest way possible. The climb is slow, plodding and forces you to have patience. You also have to be at peace with dying… I was at total peace knowing I could die on that mountain. But seeing my mother cry before I made the climb was when it hit me that this might be the last time I see anybody. But they all knew that there’s no turning it off. I’m going to climb that mountain.”
On if he’ll tone down when he has kids:
“Will having kids of my own change me and make me tone it down? No, I don’t believe so. And I’ll tell you why. Because the moment I have a kid, I want to keep showing them that there’s no age limit that says you must calm down. You have to be that much more inspiring to them, because, who am I if I’m playing it safe with my 5-year-old? That’s not Darby Allin. But if I’m strapping the 5-year-old to a Can-Am and going on some jumps? That’s who I am. I want my kids to have the confidence I never had growing up.”
On putting up flyers for AEW ahead of his world title win:
“I was thinking to myself, the challenger for the world championship is hanging flyers all over the city. People say they love AEW, but I don’t think anybody loves it as much as I love it. There are those who have a limit on what they’d do for AEW, but I would do literally anything for this place.”
On doing extreme stunts after winning the title:
“A few days after becoming champion, I flew to [extreme sports athlete] Travis Pastrana’s house and then did a 120-foot jump while holding on to bicycle handlebars I screwed on top of a Can-Am. If I lost grip of those handlebars, it definitely would’ve been game over. But I had to get right back to it and live my life like Sammy Davis Jr.’s song ‘I’ve Gotta Be Me.’”
On how he’s not dead yet:
“There’s a reason I didn’t die a lot of times and it’s because I got so much left to offer. No matter what happens, I’m at peace with whatever happens to me. If it’s your time to go, then it’s your time to go. But, clearly, it’s not my time.”
