Darby Allin defeated Cody Rhodes at AEW Full Gear 2020, becoming the third man to hold the AEW TNT Championship. In doing so, he became the first person in AEW without a history in WWE to win singles gold.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Darby explained why this moment means so much to him.
“That means the world to me,” Allin says. “We have creative freedom here. That’s why I want to be here. I can be real. You need to step up and cross that line, and I’m the embodiment of that for younger talent. I would not want to work anywhere else, period.”
As for what he plans on doing in his championship run, much like his whole career, Darby plans on making this title mean something significant in his own unique way.
“I’m going to create something that is entirely mine, and I’m going to present the championship in a new light,” Allin says. “Work doesn’t end for me on Wednesdays. This is a seven-day life for me. It’s a heavy task to make this title mine, but I’m up for it.”
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In 2019, Darby was left off of the Full Gear event. It was a moment that he says lit a fire in him and now, things could not be any more different.
“I was pissed off,” Allin says. “That drove me up a wall. So I worked harder and proved people wrong. Fast forward a year, winning the title from Cody, and it couldn’t have been any more different from a year ago.”
Darby is no longer the only person in AEW to win singles gold without a history and WWE as last night on AEW Dynamite, Kenny Omega captured the world championship from Jon Moxley and then declared, through Don Callis, that he was going to take it to IMPACT Wrestling. Check out our full live coverage at this link.
