Darby Allin Says He Doesn't Need AEW Championship To Feel Validated

Darby Allin has been away from AEW ever since the back end of 2024, taking time off to climb Mount Everest. Allin’s hiatus came during his involvement in the main event angle in AEW against The Death Riders and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. There were reports circulating in 2024 that Allin was the ultimate plan to dethrone Moxley, and he was in fact in original pitches to defeat Bryan Danielson for the gold. 

However, the AEW World Championship doesn’t mean too much for Allin, which may explain why he was so willing to take time away from the promotion despite being in top storylines. When speaking in an interview with Marc Macron on WTF, Allin spoke on the fact that he already feels validated without needing to win the gold, and told Tony Khan as much. 

“I told Tony before I went to Everest, ‘I already feel like I’m the champion of the world. I don’t need the championship belt to feel validated because I’m already winning in life. I feel so free and happy. I’m grateful for everything… It depends. I don’t know. I really don’t give a sh*t. Some people are so concerned with winning this thing. I just want to have good storylines. I’m not trying to be like, ‘I need to be the top guy.’ I want to have good sh*t.”

Following Allin’s ascent of Everest, the reaction backstage from those in AEW would be that he’d be back in the coming months, though he has yet to resurface on AEW programming as of yet. When Allin was atop Everest, Sting revealed that he received a video from his former tag team partner. 

H/T Fightful

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