10 Wrestlers Who Went To Extreme Lengths To Join AEW
1. Darby Allin Takes Out A Loan To Become All Elite
Making a career out of taking the sort of daring risks very few of his peers would be willing to, what may not be as evident is just how much Darby Allin was willing to gamble on making his AEW run a success in the first place.
Instead of putting his body on the line in the time before officially becoming All Elite, the eventual TNT Champion went out of his way to put his financial life at risk the second it became clear that Cody Rhodes was interested in investing in Allin as one of the promotion's Four Pillars.
Around the time The American Nightmare came to take in Allin's battle with Pentagon at a Northeast Wrestling event in 2019, the daredevil was very much signed to another promotion. But sensing that Rhodes' interest was too life-changing an opportunity to squander, Allin decided to buy his way out of his current deal via a $12,000 bank loan, telling the DDP Snake Pit podcast (via SEScoops):
"The moment I heard Cody 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.”
Thankfully, Cody did eventually answer, and after a visit to Rhodes' house, Allin turned down the likes of NXT to ultimately become one of the foundations of an All Elite revolution.