Out of the entire AEW roster, few stars have caught fire as quickly or as heavily as Darby Allin. The relentless one has won the hearts of the audience with his death-defying antics. His coffin drop through the lid of the coffin on night one of Fyter Fest will be one every highlight reel for a long time to come. Darby also caught the attention of Jim Ross, who spoke highly of the young man during a recent episode of his Grillin’ JR podcast.

Talking about Darby, Jim Ross said how he had been able to sit down and have a great number of conversations with him already.

“Darby Allin has a great mind. I’m very privileged to have the opportunity to have private conversations with Darby. We have a very good relationship, and he runs ideas by me all the time. Some of them I agree with, and some of them I don’t. The good thing he knows is he’s going to get an honest opinion from me. He’s a good kid and he’s learning early. The more input you can have in your creativity, you increase your odds for success.”

Aside from Chris Jericho, very few of the AEW locker room have anywhere near as much experience as Jim Ross. He is a valuable asset to the promotion that reaches far beyond his skills on the microphone.

Not only is AEW a young company, but it is a young and largely inexperienced roster. Having someone around to act as a sounding board for ideas and the creative process is only going to help them all grow.

Jim Ross spoke about the fact that AEW gives a lot of their wrestlers’ creative room. A level of freedom that might not be afforded elsewhere. Like him or loathe him, Jim Ross is an experienced head who has been there, done that and got BBQ sauce on the t-shirt.