Former AEW World Heavyweight Champion Darby Allin says he has "no regrets" over the relatively short length of his reign atop the organisation.
He somewhat shockingly squashed then-Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman on the April 15th edition of Dynamite in a match that ran just over two minutes, on a night where the pair opened and closed the show around the prospect of Allin picking up the win. MJF won the gold back on May 24th on pay-per-view at Double Or Nothing, bringing Allin's reign to an end after just 39 days.
Speaking to the Mark Hoke show about the run, he said; “I have no regrets with that. I was burning the candle at both ends, but I have no regrets at all because you live by the sword, you die by the sword. A short and sweet championship run, that’s my motto in life... I would not change a single thing”.
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Regardless of he's speaking in kayfabe not there, his reign certainly speaks to that experience. Over the course of a month, Allin went full pelt with the gold, defending it against Tommaso Ciampa, Brody King, Kevin Knight, PAC, Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara and Mike Bailey before falling to the 'Salt Of The Earth'. Regardless of if he ever wins it again, it will comfortably go down as the one the most celebrated stints in company history, illustrating the very best of the champion, his challengers, and the way the promotion books.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 70,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
