Darby Allin isn’t 100% yet, but he felt like it was the perfect time to make his return to AEW.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard spoke with Darby Allin ahead of AEW Double Or Nothing, where he will make his first in-ring appearance in several weeks. Allin has been sidelined with a broken foot since March, then got hit by a bus last month.
Eddie Kingston was originally supposed to be in the Anarchy In The Arena match at Sunday’s pay-per-view, but a leg injury meant he had to be pulled from the match. Allin told WrestleZone that he stepped in when he found out about Kingston’s injury, which he learned in the middle of a cross-country road trip with his parents.
“We started in Seattle, and we’re driving across the country. My dad [was able to] retire with the money that I can make from AEW. So I was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to do a cross-country road trip.’ I’m going to move him down to Georgia. We’re in Montana, which is like 12 hours away from Seattle. Then I find out that Eddie Kingston can’t wrestle at Anarchy in the Arena because of the injury that he had at New Japan. Then I like instantly pull over and I was like, ‘I’ve got to reach out to Tony Khan and just see if there’s a possibility of me being in this match.’”
Back to Seattle
Allin says he had to try to get cleared, but made the decision to head back to Washington for the Dynamite taping in Everett on May 15. Allin was trying to get cleared as he made the trip back home, and finally got cleared right before the show.
“I said I will do anything to see if I can get cleared. But right then and there, I just start driving back to Seattle because Dynamite was happening that Wednesday. So I do a 12 hour drive to Seattle. [I’m] so tired, trying to get clearance as I’m heading there,” Allin explained. “Literally, I’m in a boot, a walking boot, as I’m driving still. Me taking the walking boot off as soon as I get to the building was the first time I’d taken the boot off since the injury. I put my foot in a shoe for the first time and it was like, ‘Whoa! Alright, let’s see what happens.’ And I literally got clearance right before that Dynamite.”
Allin says he wasn’t sure how being back in the ring was going to feel. He also noted how being cleared doesn’t mean he’s feeling 100% better.
“My foot is still so swollen. My nose still feels like insane,” Allin explained. “For a while, [doctors] told me that my nose was like Jello. If you touch it [in the wrong spot], it will just explode.”
“I felt like it was the perfect time”
Darby Allin said midway through his trip home, he had some doubts and thought about just finishing his road trip. Despite that, he still felt like being at AEW Dynamite that week, and at Double Or Nothing on Sunday, was just the right scenario.
“So as I’m driving this 12 hours from Montana back to Seattle, the whole time I’m thinking, ‘Dude, what are you doing? Just enjoy your time off, finish this road trip with your mom and dad, just enjoy everything.’ I couldn’t, I don’t know. I felt like I needed to be there,” Allin noted. “It’s a scary feeling because Anarchy In The Arena also is no joke. I haven’t even really ever been in one of those matches, mixed with I haven’t even trained. I haven’t been in a ring since I got cleared. So there’s a lot of like factors going into this where it’s so unpredictable what’s going to happen. But I felt like it was the perfect time. Being in Seattle, my home state to return, let’s do it.
“It all came together really, really quick. Because Monday morning, I didn’t even think that showing up on Dynamite Wednesday was a possibility,” he pointed out. “Then as soon as I just started driving and talking to Tony and getting clearance from doctors, it was like, ‘Whoa, this is actually happening. Are you ready for this?’ And I’m like, I don’t know, I don’t know. I still don’t know if I’m ready for this. We’ll find out Sunday.”
Darby noted that he still finished the road trip after making his appearance on AEW Dynamite.
AEW Double Or Nothing takes place on Sunday, May 26 in Las Vegas. The event will air on TrillerTV and other streaming/PPV services.
