Darby Allin on His “Body Was So Depleted” After WWE World Title Win, His Goal To “Lead By Example” in AEW Following Sting’s Influence on Him, Mindset Some Wrestlers Had When Signing With AEW Being “Some People Were Taking It For Granted”, & More

Forbes held a recent interview with Darby Allin. One of the topics discussed included Allin’s thoughts about him winning the AEW World Championship from MJF at the April 15th AEW Dynamite Spring BreakThru 2026 show and how his “body was so depleted” following the match.

“It’s funny because I felt nothing, and that’s because my body was so depleted. I was so beat into the ground leading up to that week, dude. It took everything to get to that point. So afterwards, it felt numb. It was crazy. But moments after, when I finally got to the back and started to decompress, I realized that I climbed to the top of AEW without having to compromise myself, and that meant everything to me.

Because to me, what’s the point of becoming a World Champion if you’re just an industry plant and what you’re doing is not from the soul and isn’t pure? Like, ‘hey, we’re going to tell you what to do every step along the way, and then we’re going to put something on you.’ Well, what’s the point of that? So the fact that I was able to do that in AEW without compromising anything was everything to me. So yeah, that night was incredible.”

Allin also gave his thoughts about how he takes inspiration from Sting returning to the ring despite his spinal injury in 2014 and how he cannot “slow down” in the ring despite being told to by others.

“Just doing things my way and never compromising because we go back to Sting; he had nothing left to prove when he had the injury in 2014 that eventually ended his wrestling career. The fact that he came back to wrestling and went out on his own terms – that’s important to me.

So just keep doing things on your own terms and living life to the fullest and never, never phoning it in, never taking it off. Some will say, ‘Just slow down.’ I can’t. I physically and mentally can’t. Every time I step in the ring, even if it’s, like, a six-minute match, I’m going ballistic because I just never want to take anything for granted.

That’s kind of my whole goal with this, moving on. Just keep doing things my way, lead by example, and show everybody that you should never take it off.”

Allin also gave his thoughts about the lessons he learned from Sting and the last impact Sting has had on his wrestling career.

“Yeah, how to carry yourself out of the ring. We’re talking about a guy who’s done everything there is to do in the industry, and when you talk to him, he’s the most humble, chill guy. He doesn’t big league anybody, and that’s kind of what I realized later on because there’s so many egos where it’s like, ‘Oh, I can’t show any weakness.’ He’s so chill and so happy all the time.

That’s what I hold on to most now that his career ended – how he conducts himself when the 15-minute ride is over. That’s what kind of inspired me the most.”

Allin also gave his thoughts about the bad mindset some wrestlers had have when they sign with AEW in regards to those people viewing it as a sign they were set for life and took the opportunity to work in the company for granted and not helping it to grow.

“I think the bar got set way higher now because you have to remember, it’s year one on TV. We were throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, seeing what stuck because we’re brand new, and a lot of guys like myself never had any TV experience. So we got to see what worked.

But now the talent is so high, and everybody needs to step up. You aren’t going to be on TV unless you’re literally the best of the best. So, I feel it just shows everybody that no one can coast, no one can just chill, and that’s the beauty of it.

Because I never wanted to be in a company that felt like me and all my friends have a TV company. I don’t care if I don’t know you. I don’t care if I don’t like you. As long as you care about AEW and you want to produce some of the best, then I want you on my team.

I’m not going to say a lot of people—it felt like maybe some people were taking it for granted. Year one, they were treating it like spring break, like, ‘Oh, this is so fun. I got a job for life. I’m just hanging out with my boys.’ They weren’t going there with a mission. But I’m like, ‘I have to show the wrestling world what AEW is capable of because this changed the whole landscape.’

When I first got in, I never thought it was possible to have another game in town like this. I thought at the time, ‘This kind of sucks.’ And then AEW started, and I thought, ‘I’ll do anything to be part of that company. Anything.’ And that’s where I knew I needed to finish.

So, I saw the importance of AEW from the beginning, but I don’t think a lot of people did.”