ATLANTA — Darby Allin doesn’t live his life with regret. Whatever he wants to do, he does it. One may notice the several tattoos inked all over the professional wrestler’s body.
“It took about six or seven hours to do this hand like a skeleton,” Allin said. I got a couple of games of Tic-Tac-Toe on my leg. Both games ended in a tie."
Allin finds solace in performing stunts and pushing against conventional norms. He has skateboarded through sparks on a halfpipe and driven a monster truck 96 feet over his house, crashing the vehicle into a pile of vacant mobile homes.
“I’ve always never wanted to be complacent. I’ve always wanted to push my boundaries," Allin said. "That’s why I like to do all the crazy stuff outside the ring that keeps me going. It makes me stronger mentally. It makes me feel like I’m capable of doing anything."
Allin grew up in Seattle. When he was a kid, he lost his uncle in a car crash in which alcohol played a role. The life-altering moment helped shape Allin's role in life. While his parents doubted his ability to become a successful professional wrestler, Allin pursued his passion.
"I told myself I've got to do this or I'm going to live with what-if my whole life," Allin said. "Living with what-if is probably the worst feeling ever."
When Allin moved to Atlanta, he originally lived a homeless life intentionally for over three months. His friend, AR Fox, reached out to Allin and offered him a place to stay and train to further his wrestling career.
"I wanted to live in my car, because I didn’t want these comfort zones of waking up and being able to sit on the couch for six hours and watch Youtube all day," Allin said. "In the car, when you get up, especially in the Georgia heat, you have to get moving. You can’t be lazy. It made me hustle. I felt like I didn’t deserve to leave the car until I made it in wrestling.”
Allin said Georgia now feels like home. As for his day job, he consistently puts his body on the line inside a 20-by-20 wrestling ring. Cody Rhodes, one of the minds behind the creation of All Elite Wrestling, approached Allin to sign with the promotion in 2019.
"AEW, they just let me do me on a huge scale, national TV," Allin said. "It’s the best place easily I’ve performed in because they let me put my vision on national television. I took elements from what I loved from skateboarding and elements from punk rock and the unpredictability, not really having so much rules. At the same time, I love good solid wrestling."
Since signing with AEW, Allin has won multiple championships and has gotten to wrestle with one of his influences, "The Icon" Sting. Allin also looked to Jeff Hardy, Mick Foley, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko as inspirations for his wrestling career.
"Sting shows me that age is not a limit," Allin said. "You can be psycho when you’re 64. Outside of the ring, he’s been super humble and giving.”
Allin lives every moment like it's his last. Through adversity, he's made a name for himself from coast to coast. He said he would like to mentor younger wrestlers like Nick Wayne and see them take the business to new heights.
"You can't take anything for granted, so that's why I have that tattoo on my chest that says nothing's over until you're underground," Allin said. "No matter what you want to do in life, you can do it. Don’t let age be a restriction, your environment be a restriction, don’t have certain life events be a restriction. Just do you, because nothing is over until you’re dead.”