Darby Allin Denies Referencing CM Punk On AEW Dynamite

THAT "best in the world" line apparently wasn't referring to CM Punk...

by Andrew Pollard
Darby Allin Sting
AEW

While Darby Allin got the wrestling world talking on last week's AEW Dynamite after seemingly referencing CM Punk, the former TNT Champion has moved to play down such talk.

Of course, that most recent Dynamite offering had Allin cut a backstage promo about how the only place to prove your ability is in AEW... "even if you think you are the best in the world".

The Best in the World is a nickname CM Punk famously gave himself during the final years of his WWE tenure, and the fact that this line from Darby took place directly after AEW had announced Chicago's United Center as the venue for the 20 August AEW Rampage, many saw all of this as a tease of Allin calling out the Second City Saint.

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Speaking during a virtual meet and greet for the Asylum Wrestling Store (as per POST Wrestling), Darby claimed he was simply referring to Sammy Guevara during the aforementioned promo:

"No, that's more Sammy Guevara, because he calls himself the best ever. Yeah, well people read into it too much. Sammy Guevara calls himself the best ever so... it's cool, dude. It's awesome that people actually care and wanna know what's going on."

Both CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are reportedly heading to AEW, although reports claim that none of the AEW roster - bar the EVPs of the company - have been told whether these two former WWE Champions are incoming or not.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.