Darby Allin is one of the young stars in AEW and he's taken advantage of having so many veterans around. Allin's style might not remind you of a young Dean Malenko, but Allin has formed a bond with The Man of 1,000 Holds, wanting to soak up as much knowledge as possible.
Appearing on AEW Unrestricted, Darby discussed his relationship with Malenko.
"I wrestled PAC at Bash at the Beach, he was the agent, and just picking his brain on the littlest things. My favorite is going up to guys like Dean or Jim Ross or yourself [Tony Schiavone] or Taz and talk to you guys about 'I'm going to do this' and hearing your thoughts and input. With guys like Dean, I just want to learn as much...I've been watching him forever and there's something about that type of wrestler that seems to professional, like a class of their own."
He continued, "I feel like a lot of younger guys on the Indies, there isn't that type of wrestler anymore. I haven't seen anybody like Dean or Eddie. I don't know if it's social media. You get more popular pretty fast on social media, so I don't know if people aren't working as hard because they have one match and people see a GIF of them doing something crazy and they get bookings off this one match and they're like, 'I don't have to train anymore.' They're not going to stop training in the NFL or NBA. I always want to get better and treat wrestling as the sport it is."
In AEW's short run, Cody and others have raved about Darby's willingness to go the extra mile. Darby produces his own videos and has shown off his creativity in a multitude of ways in the ring and out.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Allin discussed his relationship with Cody and signing with AEW. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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