AEW's Darby Allin Says This WWE Hall Of Famer Made Him Want To Get Into Wrestling

There aren't many people in the wrestling business who would dare, or even think of doing some of the things Darby Allin does in the ring. He has put himself through panes of glass, glued thumbtacks to his face, and been thrown down flights of stairs during his AEW career, leading some to wonder where on earth he gets his ideas from. On the "Flickering Myth" podcast, Allin admitted that he was initially influenced by a certain hardcore legend, but has since grown to love one of the industry's most beloved technicians.

"As a kid watching it, I'd probably say I think like Mick Foley in the Hell in a Cell match, just because as a kid — it's funny because as a kid I used to think like 'oh my god like crazy stunts, it's so awesome,' but then when I actually got into wrestling, that's when I started respecting more of the Dean Malenko's and the technical wrestlers you know? But as a kid, that's kind of my goal with my wrestling is someone that's a non-wrestling fan can be watching me and like 'holy s**t that guy's insane,' but the fans who are actually wrestling fans can be like 'well he knows actually how to like technically wrestle and he knows how to actually wrestle.' So it's kind of fun to catch attention."

Allin is currently competing in the 2024 Continental Classic tournament, where he sits on six points after his first three matches. He was the first man to beat Will Ospreay in the competition on the Holiday Bash edition of "AEW Dynamite," and will be hoping to get past both Claudio Castagnoli and Ricochet so that he can advance to the tournament finals at Worlds End.

Please credit "Flickering Myth" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.