Darby Allin Bought Out Indie Contract To Join AEW

He’s one of the ‘Four Pillars of AEW’, a former TNT Champion who has been with the company since the start, but that doesn’t mean Darby Allin had it easy becoming ‘All Elite’.

During an appearance on the DDP Snake Pit podcast, Darby revealed how he bought out his contract with an indie promotion so he could join AEW:

“At the time, I was signed with another little promotion,” said Allin. “The moment I heard Cody [Rhodes] was interested, long story short, I paid $12,000 to get out of my contract. I took a loan out and I remember I used to hit Cody up like every day, just blow his phone up, and he would never really answer.”

AEW were yet to run their first show when Allin started corresponding with Cody, but said he was ‘all in’ when hearing about one aspect of the fledgling’s company’s operation:

“All I heard, when they were promoting it, were the words ‘Creative Freedom.’ I was like, ‘That’s where I need to be,’” continued Darby.

The gamble certainly paid off, as Allin is one of the most popular stars in all of AEW, and has put on some incredible matches since debuting in 2019, many at the side of the legendary Sting.

H/T: SEScoops