AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin was involved in “90%” of the creation of Sting’s wrestling return, “co-directing” the the cinematic Street Fight we witnessed at AEW Revolution.
Answering a question from Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy on the AEW Revolution post-show media scrum, Allin would disclose just how involved he was in helping produce the match, calling it a “test” because he dropped out of film school.
“I would say I was involved in 90% of it. I was doing damn near everything that night we were… A lot, lot of work put into this and I was up for weeks helping produce this, so it was a lot. It was a good experience, you know, because my ass dropped out of film school so this was kind of a test to see my directing skills, so it was fun. I had a good time and everybody trusting me, and Ricky busting his ass, too, and making everything, so it was an honour to be part of this.”
The match would see Sting return to action for the first time since 2015, but his tag team partner – Darby Allin – has become a staple of the company. Not only has Allin impressed in the ring, becoming TNT Champion, but he’s also appeared alongside skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and Jackass star Steve-O – while filming his own vignettes along the way!
Speaking with Inside The Ropes in 2020, Allin noted how he fits right in at AEW as they allow him the creative freedom to be Darby Allin.
“If I’m going to make it in this world, I’m going to do it as Darby Allin – no-one else. I’m not going to have anybody change who I am. So AEW is my calling card.”
Meanwhile, on the media scrum, Tony Khan was also asked about Darby Allin’s creative efforts – as well as physical – in producing the match. Answering Sean Laeos of Sports CBR, Khan would call Allin a “gifted filmmakers” and noted how he has been working with the TNT Champion to bring his vision to life.
“I’m really glad you asked. Darby is a really great, gifted young filmmaker and I’m so glad you used that term to describe him because that’s a term I use to describe Darby also, he’s a great filmmaker and working with him on this was a pleasure and that’s accurate, he did do 90%, Darby really was effectively codirecting this and we had a vision for it, this story I’ve been working on with him, going back almost a year now with Taz, and we’ve had plans for a long time to bring Sting into it and do this match, and it all paid off in a really spectacular way. Everybody put their body into it, I can’t say enough about the effort everyone gave and particularly Sting coming back from a long lay off and it was awesome.”
Khan would detail how Allin did some “insane things” with his body before calling cut and doing it a second time to get it right, noting his importance to the company,
“As a filmmaker, Darby envisioned a great spectacle and organised all the shots, and every time we called cut, he was right there making sure we did it right and there were times when it involved him doing something insane to do it a second time and he was that willing to do it because he’s so passionate about it. He’s very, very gifted filmmaker indeed. And he’s also a great wrestler and really, really, really important person to this company.”
Thanks to Darby Allin for taking the time. You can follow Darby on Twitter here. You can catch AEW Dynamite every Wednesday Night at 1am on FITE TV.