Darby Allin is one of the most death-defying wrestlers of all time and has made a career out of taking so much punishment that even a hardcore legend like Mick Foley would probably say no to some of the things Darby has done. In his six years with AEW, he has been thrown down flights of stairs, hung upside down just a few weeks after breaking his nose, and in the recent Blood and Guts match on November 12, he was thrown off the top of the entrance tunnel through a pair of flaming tables.
Fortunately for Darby, he works for a man who trusts him with his daredevil antics, but even Tony Khan has had his doubts about whether Darby is going to come out of a spot in one piece, and during a recent appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” he revealed the one spot where he felt Darby went too far.
“I think he’s really a brilliant wrestler, and also he takes these chances, and I think normally they’re very calculated chances. The one that I thought was too far, and I would say this to him and have said this to him 100 times…in Sting’s last match with the glass in Greensboro [at AEW Revolution 2024], off the ladder through the glass.”
On that night, Darby jumped off a ladder situated in the ring and dove to the outside through a pane of glass that was bridged across some steel chairs. He attempted to hit The Young Bucks but missed and suffered several lacerations on his back in the process.
“That was the one where I thought maybe it was too much, and it wasn’t exactly the way it was described,” Khan said. “It was pretty brutal, and that was the one where I said ‘I think you’re so brilliant about these chances, but this is the first time ever where I thought probably it was too much.”
Khan rounded off by saying that the silver lining to the dangerous spot was not only did it go well, but Revolution 2024 ended up being what he considers to be the greatest night in the history of AEW. Ironically, Darby would suffer an injury less than two weeks later, breaking his foot in a match against Jay White performing a move that he had landed perfectly hundreds of times before.
Tony Khan On Dangerous Spots In AEW
With AEW not having as many restrictions as a company like WWE, the wrestlers are able to go the extra mile when it comes to blood, gore, and violence in their matches. While Darby Allin is known for being a risk taker, Hangman Page has drank Swerve Strickland’s blood on pay-per-view, Jon Moxley has spilled more blood in AEW than some wrestlers do in their entire careers, and even the women’s roster have brought thumbtacks and beds of nails into their matches. It might seem like Tony Khan doesn’t have a line that he wouldn’t cross, he explained that all of these dangerous spots have to be planned, and need to make sense in the context of the story and match.
“It has to make sense, and almost everything we’ve ever done, I thought made sense,” Khan said. “The things that, if there were ever a few that didn’t work out, I thought ‘well that probably didn’t make sense to begin with,’ and that’s why over the years I think we’ve really refined the process. But we have such great, great wrestlers that 99.9% of the time I always think everything they do is awesome, and I agree with the choices they make.”
Khan did admit that on pay-per-views and special episodes of “AEW Dynamite” like the aforementioned Blood and Guts episode, the AEW roster do tend to push themselves a little harder and take bigger risks than they usually would. However, he sees the sacrifices they make as an example of how great professional wrestling can be, and is extremely proud to have assembled a locker room full of people who are will to go to such lengths in order to entertain the fans, and benefit the company.
Please credit “The Ariel Helwani Show” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
