Top AEW star Darby Allin appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show to discuss various topics, including the main reason that inspired him to climb Mount Everest.
Allin said, “You know, to me it’s just like it’s a 15-minute ride. That’s all it is, a 15-minute ride. And a lot of people believe their own hype, but at the end of the day, someone else is in control of your destiny. They’re either going to make you the champion or make you the guy at the bottom. Someone else is in control of your destiny. And I have such a problem with that. So, that’s like a big reason I wanted to climb Mount Everest is to really prove to myself that I’m capable of anything. And uh yeah, it was like a it’s it’s a whole thing. I just I just don’t I don’t like ego. That’s what it is. I just don’t like ego. I don’t like when people. It’s like cuz the wrestling world’s just going to chew you up and spit you out, and then if you believe your hype and it spits you out, you’re literally living your life for somebody else.”
On AEW allowing him to climb Mount Everest in the prime of his career:
“That’s like my whole thing is, but that’s what’s so beautiful to me with AEW is they’re like, ‘All right, just do you. Focus on what makes you happy inside the ring and outside the ring.’ It’s like the best of both worlds. So, it’s just uh it’s just a great experience. And the fact that they let me climb Mount Everest in the, in the essentially the peak of my career. It’s like you never get that. You never get that because you’re just a hamster on the wheel, and it just keeps spinning, and then once it spits you out, you think that the wrestling world can’t go on without you, and then you realize how fast everybody moves on without you. And that’s the thing, like, I have no ego. If it ends tomorrow, **** it.”
On keeping his word to climb Mount Everest:
“And if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. So when I say I was going to bring the AEW flag on top of the world, I mean there was no turning back. I would die on that mountain before I turned back.
On if he thinks there will be a time he will want to move on from pro wrestling:
“As long as I’m having a good time in the ring, from when the moment the bell rings to the moment it ends, that’s all I care about. And I feel right now, I’m having the time of my life in that ring, performing. And everything I do is literally from my soul. So, it’s like I’m not. You can’t create Derby. You know, you can never create somebody like me. It’s just me, and that’s what I’m so grateful for.”
On why he was willing to risk his life to reach the top of Mount Everest:
“Because I think that is the ultimate definition of living, even if it cuts your life short. Yes. Absolutely. I have the way I live my life. I feel like I have lived more in one year than people do in their whole entire life, and I really believe that. So, I’m just grateful for everything. And it’s just like I said, it’s a self journey of like who you’re going to become on the other side and what this is going to teach you about yourself. Because like I said, there’s nothing more humbling than sitting there and looking at these bodies and knowing that could be you. And every day you’re just fixated on surviving. It’s just there’s no distractions because in a daily life, you say if you run into a problem, you’re gonna like pull out your phone and like scroll and like just distract yourself from your problems, whatever it is. There are no distractions up there. You can’t have your phone. You can’t even have a book. I’m staring at the wall and just thinking, ‘Oh, well, I might die tomorrow.’ So, there’s nothing more grounding than that.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
