Darby Allin Says Skateboarding Prepared Him For Wrestling

AEW’s Darby Allin has had two matches in the promotion thus far. He wrestled Cody to a time-limit draw at Fyter Fest and then took the pin to Shawn Spears in a 6-man tag at Fight for the Fallen. He sat down with journalist Chris Van Vliet recently to discuss being homeless before AEW, his angle with Cody, and skateboarding.

“Skateboarding is so much worse, god it destroyed me,” Allin said when asked about his transition from skateboarding to pro-wrestling. “The difference between skateboarding and wrestling is a skateboard slam, sometimes you’re there by yourself and you fall and you’re like ‘ah, that hurt’ but in wrestling there’s a thousand people like ‘yeah, good!'”

Allin continued to say the falls he took from skateboarding made it easier for him when he began taking bumps for wrestling.

“Skateboarding definitely prepared me more than anything for pro-wrestling,” Allin said. “Like my first day at practice I was bumping, you know learning bumps and then my trainer was like ‘how you feel, man? Hurts doesn’t it?’ and I’m like “no, I feel good'”

Allin was also asked about the Coffin Drop move he attempted on Cody at Fyter Fest.

“A do or die moment in the match. Am I just going to roll Cody in and try and pin him? Or am I going to try and annihilate him or decapitate him? And I wanted to decapitate him because then I knew for sure that was going to get the win. It’s pretty much risking it all,” he said. “Yeah, that f***ed my ribs pretty bad.”

Allin also spoke about being homeless for a period of 3 months before signing with AEW.

“I lived in my car for about like 3 months,” Allin said. “Once i started dating Priscilla (Kelly) I just remember being more at her place. Eventually, we got married and got our own place. I feel like she’s a good luck charm because once we started dating, I felt like my career started picking up.”