AEW Star Reveals He Said "Hell F*cking No" To WWE 205 Live

There was just no way this AEW man was joining WWE's old Cruiserweight brand.

by Jamie Kennedy
Darby Allin
AEW

There was just no way Darby Allin was going to appear on WWE's 205 Live show.

The current AEW man revealed, via the 'DDP Snakepit' podcast, that he heard rumblings of a gig on the Cruiserweight brand before signing on the dotted line with Tony Khan's company. In another remarkable admission, Darby said he paid $12,000 of his own money to get out of a contract with WWN/EVOLVE before becoming All Elite.

After paying that fee, Allin plagued Cody Rhodes with texts and phone calls about coming in. That paid off, but AEW were interested in him anyway, and it didn't take long before Darbs had an AEW contract in his hands.

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Things could've been very different for him.

WWE scouts were keen on bringing Allin to NXT. In his own words, Allin said he was "being groomed" for a tryout on the brand. Then, he heard that the promotion fancied sticking him on 205 Live and he said: "Hell f*cking no" to that.

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Darby didn't like the thought of working on a brand that was clearly going nowhere fast. He was also excited by the thought of revolution in AEW.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.