The One Thing AEW MUST Do At Full Gear 2020
One need only glance at Allin to understand his first level of appeal.
Skinny, undersized, and awkward, he paints his face like a Misfits member and skates to the ring soundtracked by hyped emo-rapper Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, connecting him to the zeitgeist of alternative culture. Tony Hawk and Jackass' Steve-O are among his idols. The bulk of his seemingly self-produced AEW vignettes see him hurling his body from increasingly dangerous heights. He is straight edge, comes from a tragic background, and wrestles for the same reason he skates and leaps from bridges: so the audience can share his hurt.
He is real, authentic, relatable, and uniquely appealing, particularly to disenfranchised alt. kids in younger demographics.
As a performer, Allin is a dynamo. His every appearance is like a shot of adrenaline thanks not only to his daredevil spirit, but his explosive, propulsive wrestling style. Darby doesn't just skate out from the back; he bursts, yet the energy and penchant for high-risk stunts that partly defines him doesn't tell the whole story. A bumper and seller par excellence, Allin is a great in-ring storytelling, and also boasts a refined ground game allowing him to believably control larger wrestlers without over-relying on speed.
Diminished crowds make it harder to tell who is truly over in this era of wrestling, but Darby got the largest pop of the night when fans returned at AEW All Out 2020. People love Darby. People connect with Darby. They are ready for him to topple the ace.
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