September 26, 2024 • 21 mins
Right before AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam in Queens, Darby Allin kicked it to discuss being the face of AEW, climbing up Mount Everest, most underrated performer & more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Yeah, what's going on. I'm Josh Martinez.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
With another edition of the Superstar Crossover Podcast with Z
one hundred, New York's number one hit music station. But
things are a little different today and the Duncan Music Lounge,
we have our guest, possibly the next All Elite Wrestling
World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Let's show some love to Darby Allen.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, Hello, sir, there you go. Just drop it, dude,
It's fine. So let's just I'd just like to have
these conversations in chat. I mean, before I brought you in,
I said potentially the next AW World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
When you hear that out loud, what like runs through
your mind? To me?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
When I hear that, I think of being the face
of this company. And I think there's no better person
in this whole company to be the face of it
than me, because I was never the guy on the indies.
I was never meant to really make it in the
grand scheme of wrestling as a top guy. And through
AW and them just saying do you do you like
chains off?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Do whatever you want?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
And I've just connected so well with people that I
feel like it just no better person to show what
this place is capable of building.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
From a complimentary standpoint. What has been like the best
compliment you've gotten from someone, whether it's maybe they compared
you to someone else or maybe just someone sliding into
your DNS like, hey, you're killing it, dude.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I think compliment wise, it's just from a guy like Sting,
for example, like just being like, hey, man, don't change
the thing. What you're doing is working. And that's what
he said in the very first conversation I've ever had
with him, you know, the very first time I met him.
He's like, I love your work, I love your promos,
I love your look whatever, you know what I mean,
like your cinematic stuff that you film, Like just keep
doing that, don't change. And I was like, whoa, it's
(01:43):
kind of cool as validation, you know, And because when
you first enter wrestling, there's a lot of different routes
to take and it gets kind of intimidating.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
In a way.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Can I do this because I know it's gonna work. Well,
this guy looks really clean cut and like, you know,
prim and proper.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Should I go that route? Should I be a pretty boys?
Should they do? And You're like, no, man, just do.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You was there anything that you wanted to do in
a match and someone was like, hey, dog, don't do
that liability or just don't.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, but I did it anyways. I think a good
example is the glass. Okay, the glass was Sting the
last match, and people like, man, this is really dangerous
and like that wasn't sugar glass, that was shower door
glass and that.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Was that your like sole idea or was it just
something that you were battling around with friends to.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Try that was my sole idea. I think that I
was like, man, this is Sting's last match.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You only get one.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Shot at this, like we have to go balls to
the wall, all out crazy, like what can we do?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
And then it's like I just thought of that. I
don't know, I don't know why that, but I just
thought of that.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Did you think of other things and then landed on
that or was it just like one and done.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That's the one idea. That's what I'm going with.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, there's idea as a fire, but like it was
just like I think the glass is pretty much you know,
there's no way of faking glass, you know what I mean,
unless you use sugar glass. But I ain't gonna play
with that and give me, give me the give me
the good stuff. And I think, you know, with wrestling,
everything I do in wrestling, I wanted to there's no
(03:17):
holes through it.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
You can't see through it. You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Me getting thrown down a flight of steps at Daily's
Place by Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. That sucked, you
know what I mean? Like that, that's that's cement stairs,
you know, like that. But I don't want anyone like, oh,
he's just there's a padding.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
There's no no, you can't fake cement. No, it's shoot cement.
What was the worst bump that you've taken in your career?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
The worst bump? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Man, there was one time I was wrestling on the
Independence years ago. I believe it was twenty eighteen or no, yeah,
twenty eighteen. I was wrestling in New Orleans and they
have no padding around the ring. You know it just indies,
they don't, you know, they don't.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It costs money to put the mats down.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, And I did a dive outside the ring, but
my head hit the ground and I started kind of convulsing,
and I did get rushed to the hospital and I
was bleeding from the brain and they put me under
and I thought like that was that was like next level,
Like oh shit, Like it was like, you know, because
you get the wind knocked out of you or you
(04:25):
get a broken bone, but stuff with your brain.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I feel like it's next level, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Because you're like I remember, they're like, Okay, you can't
drive for like a month after this. You have to
like sit in a dark room and just really chill out.
And I remember I just like grabbed the car. It
just started driving downtown Atlanta and I don't even know
what I was doing.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It was like where'd you go? I was like I'm
in downtown, Like why did you?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And I was like I have no idea, Like like
so from Frohen, like a bump, like when that when
that happens, are you conscious or were you like knocked out?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And I was knocked out and then I finished the match.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
And it's kind of ironic because the finish was the
top rope power bomb, and I was the one taking
in it and not giving it, so it was salt
on the wounds.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It just hurts to beat Darby Allen.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, but no, right now, I actually feel really great
because a lot of people don't know what my physical
recovery Regimen's like, I'm like awesome friends with DDP and
he lives like forty five minutes for me, and he's
the king of physical recovery. So every time he gets
this new contraption, it's like I go over there and
it feels like we're playing a game of Saw where
we're just putting ourselves through like some crazy challenges.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But it's just like it feels great.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Like I my whole downstairs is like literally a physical
recovery laboratory.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I feel amazing. So everybody asked me, like, how are
you feeling? Man, you ain't gonna be able to do
this when you're thirty. I'm like, well, I'm thirty and
I feel great.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
What would you say is the most important aspect of
the recovery process? Like is there a certain machine or
a certain is it just yoga? Is it just making
sure that like your neck is okay? What would you
say is most important?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I think the biggest thing is the mind.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
You know, it sounds crazy, but I've I talked to
Rick Rubin because he's really big into meditation. I talked
to him about meditation and then he put me onto
TM meditation. I went to a three day program where
I learned the art of TM meditation and it keeps
you balanced because I feel like if the mine is gone,
it does not matter how good your body is.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now you were gonna scale what mountain? Was it?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Mount Everest?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah? Slight Flex. You broke your foot.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Two weeks before I was supposed to go, and everybody
said that was a fate, like you, that was fate
that you weren't supposed to climb, and I was like,
it's happening this year, Well that was gonna be my
next question.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Do you take it as a sign of, all right,
maybe this is some sort of reason not.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
To do it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, I take it as a sign of I really
need to do it now. Okay, like I wanted to
do it, but now I really want to do it.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So what goes into the preparation of training to literally
put your life on the line as you scale a mountain?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So a big part of it is I have zero
mount experience. However, so I'm thinking I got this machine
at my house called the Livo too, and it replicates
the Errol Mount Everest. So it's like a big bag
that plugs in. You plug it in the wall and
it puts like this air tank and you wear this
mask and to do cardio for like thirty minutes and
it like it kills you. But that and the ice bath,
(07:19):
I went on these mountains. We summoned it mountains and uh, Katman.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Do you know? Nepaul called Lobichet, which.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Is like twenty two thousand feet and I felt incredible
like summoning it. And they they're like, damn, you have
zero experience. How how'd you feel so good?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Mind you?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
The people I was with were shitting their pants, coughing
up blood, throwing.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Up, and they're like the professionals right, essentially.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah, And I was like, I feel pretty good. I'm
just tired because I've been up for twenty five hours.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And then I summoned a mountain because my sleep, I
just you can't really sleep that good when you have
no oxygen.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's something I found out the hard way. So I
was like, I stayed at for twenty five hours. Now
I'm climbing this twenty two thousand foot mountain. But I
was like delirious. But I did it, and I was
like WHOA, Like, man, how'd you do it? I was like,
I don't know if it's like the wrestling, because wrestling
is so hard, you know, you know what I mean,
or whatever it is, but I felt I felt great,
So I was really excited there. They were telling me, man,
(08:15):
you are going to rocket at Mount Everest. The only
thing that's going to stop you as an avalanche or
a yetty.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
But it was just like I that's I'm very confident.
I'm very confident.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And you know, I broke the foot, got three metal
plates put in there, but it hasn't slowed me down.
I came back to wrestling, you know, rocking, and I
went back to skateboarding rocking, and just the other week
I wanted to really test the foot out, so I
jumped off a sixty foot waterfall and it felt great.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
You could have done like physical therapy stretching to see
if your foot was fine instead of jumping off of shit.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah no.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But that's the thing though. It's I wrestled such an
intense way.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
That I you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The physical therapists don't understand that, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
But I do do a lot of physical therapy.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So working with someone like Sting the last few years,
like you have him being in a locker room with
so many veterans, What advice do they give you in
regards to knowing when it's time to like hang it up.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
They don't really give me advice because stay sixty four
years old jumping off the balconies. I think at the
end of the day, he just says he never wanted
to become a parody of himself.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
He never wanted to stay in the game long.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Enough to become a joke, you know, where it's like
a shell of his former self. And I felt like
in his final run, you can't argue and say that
Sting wasn't doing some of the best work his whole
entire career.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So I think he left with his dignity intact.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
And that's the thing, is like I want to leave
when it's time to leave.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I don't want to stay too.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Long for the encore and then be like, ah, man,
Darry is a shell of his former self.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
What a joke? Give it up, old man.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
But you know, when did you find out, Hey, you
are going to be part of Sting's last match.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
This is legit, this is a thing.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And then what were your feelings when you found out
that you were going to be such a focal point
to that whole run.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
See, like I didn't know, you know, I felt like
I didn't even They had me sitting in the rafters
during the pandemic and I didn't even know why.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
And then there Cody came up to me and he's like,
you know why you're doing this right? I was like,
I don't know, just it just creepy. And then he's
just like no, like stings coming in and I'm like,
oh shit. He's like yeah, and I think we wanted
to be your partner and I was like, oh, well,
that's crazy, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And uh So the chemistry with us just worked so well.
And I pretty much knew when he said, like, hey,
I want you this whole time by my side, So
early on, I knew I was gonna be a part
of whatever the last match was, but we just didn't
know how we were gonna get there, or what we
were going to do, or who is going to be again.
(10:47):
So it's just there's a lot of twists and turns,
but it's just yeah, it was It was a validation because,
like I said, he told me not to change a
single thing, So it is validation that I belonged, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So speaking of twists and turns aw Grand Slam is
coming up this week.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
You're in a match.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You are technically number one contender for the World heavyweight champion.
John Moxley wants to take that from you, and then
somewhere in the back.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Christians just chilling waiting to take it from you.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And then hey, if Nigel McGinnis happens to win against Danielson,
if that match happens, there's just a lot going on
in that main event title picture. If you had it
your way, how do you become World heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
In Seattle at wrestl Dream.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
People are thinking I'm stupid for putting my number one
contendership because A I don't want to wrestle Brian.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
That's not one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
When I become the face of this company and I
beat Brian for that world championship, I want to do
it when he's at one hundred percent because I don't
want there to be any asterisk next to my championship win.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
But another reason I felt like I needed to put.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
This on the line against Moxley's because he was my
guy growing up.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
You know, when I first entered to pro wrestling.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It's kind of funny, like you look at a Sting,
but I couldn't relate to a Sting because Sting was
like on this icon status like so up here, and
I was like, well, that's not gonna happen for me.
But I saw a Moxley I'm talking to early John
Moxley before Switchblade, Sammy Callahan, John Moxley, and I was like,
(12:22):
this is a guy I can relate to, like just
the grittiness of everything. I was like, that's a guy
I feel like I can aspire to be like so
he told When Moxley says, you weren't ready five years
ago to be the face of this company.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You weren't ready two years ago. You ain't ready. Now,
why would I start taking.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Shortcuts before I even become world champion? That's what I
felt in my heart. So I'm gonna you know, I'm
the king of taking risk, But this is just to
put validation to everybody before I summit the top of
ae W that there is no challenge I'm going to
back down from.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So last year I interviewed Chris Jericho and we talked
about the biggest performers that never became world heavyweight champion.
So he mentioned a few icons from the eighties and
then talked about today, and he brought you up saying
that you have what it takes to be a world champion.
When you hear someone like Jericho saying that, or maybe
someone likes things say hey, it's your time.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You're ready, what the hell do you feel?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Because that I can't imagine what it's like looking at
these people that you to an extent idolize and look
up to and they're like, hey, we see it in you.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it's it's wild because I never you know, entering
pro wrestling, it was so intimidating, so so intimidating, and
then just to know that you can summ at the
top of somewhere by staying true to yourself, that's, like,
the end of the day, like the only thing I
could ask for. So it's kind of like it's just
(13:49):
validation for everything, all the doubt that I had, all
the insecurities that I had. This is like when you
got guys that have been in this industry so long
saying that you actually have what it takes to be
the guy, Because being the guy of a national TV
company is no joke. It's no small feet, like being
the face and the carrying the championship. The company is
(14:11):
pretty much built around you. So it's like all eyes.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You know. Whether the company does good, that's a reflection
of you.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Whether company does bad, that's also a reflection of you.
You know. So it's just a it's just yeah, it's
gonna be a very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So I have a few fan questions here, so I'm
gonna ask you a few of them.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So you got hit by a bus? Dog? The fuck happened?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
You know? Raymond Pettibone, I know the name, and he's
the artist of this band called Black Flag. He created
the logo and he created the name of Black Flag,
and his artwork is famous. It's in the Museum of
Modern Art down here in New York. But he lives
down here, so.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Helping.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
He had a walker. He's not he doesn't doesn't got
any He's very slow. He was jaywalking in New York.
We were on the way to go see fam in
the opera closing weekend and his bus has taken a
turn and I knew they weren't going to see him,
so I had to like shuffle him across. They're taking
a rite and mind you I had a broken foot
at the time, so mister Darby can't move that fast
(15:17):
in the either. And the next thing I knew, I
smacked the side of the where the window is on
my face and still made it.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Fami and the Opera.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
You still made it?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Oh hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It was closing week No, no, no, Sweeney Todd. My bad,
it was Sweety Todd. It was closing weekend of Sweeney Todd.
And I was like, I have to see this. What
did you think of that show?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I've seen it. I saw it about a few months ago.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Like I really liked it, you know, like I I
like Broadway shows, and I put myself in the shoes
of like people watching it, like like I wonder, I'm
like really invested.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I know the finish, just because who hasn't seen you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Like I didn't know. I didn't know anything about Swoo.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Do you know the movie?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
No, I don't, I know, like it was a Johnny
Depp flick or whatever. But like I never yeah there
to watch.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It, yeah no, so but like I was so emotionally
invested in that I kind of put myself in the
shoes of like, damn, this is what it feels like
for wrestling fans to watch one of my matches.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I will say it was kind of cool the lever
gimmick that they had to like slide them down.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, Do you have any favorite memories of New
York City aside from getting hit by a bus?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
No?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
That that's ah, that takes the top of the list.
I love New York.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Actually, I kind of like my early on in my
wrestling career in New York is kind of what made me, like,
you know, I built a really cult following you would say,
and evolve in La Boom there, Like that's where I
really connected with a group of fans, was in New
(16:48):
York for the first time.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Which, by the way, La Boom was like a nightclub
in Queens. Is it still Is it still still okay?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I have a cousin who's a DJ, so that's why
I looked at him to get the nod, so it
La Boom is still okay. So it's a nightclub in
Queens and then like they would randomly turn it into
like this massive wrestling venue and they had some really
dope shows there.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, yeah, very great shows. How does Rabbit mine?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Like?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
I also broke my elbow in that building, you know,
shout out Ethan Page breaking my elbow with a shovel.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's Can you come to New York and not get hurt? No,
you went to film school before getting dropped out of
film school too, But yeah, so you dropped out of
film school. How do you think going to film school
impacted your wrestling persona if any, if at all?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think just like the art form of you know,
promos and storytelling, because like when I watch films, I
want to watch a film that has a good story.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I don't really mind.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I don't really care for films where it's just like explosions, explosions,
there's no rhyme to the reason.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
They're just doing shit just to do shit, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
The Last and nine Fast and Furious movies.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Basically I haven't seen any of them, but like the
thing is, I just like having where the fans would
leave and have an emotional like connection to your performance
as supposed like that was cool because today in today's world,
there's so much going on, you know, especially in wrestling,
there's like, oh crazy match of the Year candidate this
week and then all of a sudden, no, this is
(18:18):
Match of the Year and nothing, nothing matters anymore unless
I feel like you tell a story.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So that's the biggest thing I picked up from film school.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Who do you think is the most underrated performer in
aaw today?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
It sounds kind of strange to say this, but I
think it's John.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Moxley, Okay, because when he first came into this company,
he was the guy like I remember just being like,
oh my god, this this is like game changing for
him to show up at double or Nothing, and I
kind of felt like he was just.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
He kind of like was just another guy for a while.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
It was weird, you know what I mean, Like he
was thrown in a random mattress, like just for the
sake of it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
But if you give John the ball, there is no
better performer than him, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
And I felt like his run last year, he was
just kind of he became AWGP like champion, but in
the world of ae W, I felt like he was
just like he was just in like random mixed like
tag matches, you know, and I was like, man, this
guy legit.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
I felt something when he came out of double or nothing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I felt the energy in the room change, like and
then now I feel like he's put himself right back
into the fold with killing people with plastic bags.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Wild Angle, by the way, who was someone you've always
wanted to work with that you never got a chance to.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Brody Lee by Far, you know, like when he first
came to ae w Uh, I was like, I went
up to Tony Conness, like I need to wrestle that guy.
It just never fit, you know, royline Wise, it never fit.
And it's very unfortunate of the passing of him. And
but that was like the guy.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
I just just felt like there was something we could
have done really really special.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So the final question, this is called the Superstar Crossover
for a reason. I want you to have a question
for our next guest. I'm gonna be interviewing WWE World
Heavyweight Champion Cody Rhodes tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So do you have a question for Cody Rhoads.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you
for getting me to AEW. I wouldn't be here if
it wasn't for Cody Roads. So thank you for Cody Roads.
So here's a question. Does he think I can actually
be the face of AEW. Does he believe I can
be the face of AEW because he got me here,
and he was here from day one when mister Darby
was so insecure and didn't know his true worth. Does
(20:50):
he think I have what it takes to carrie AW
in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Do you know your worth now? Absolutely love that we
should all know our worth. By the way, one more time,
let's show some love to Arby Allen m HM.
Hey, Yeah, what's going on. I'm Josh Martinez.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
With another edition of the Superstar Crossover Podcast with Z
one hundred, New York's number one hit music station. But
things are a little different today and the Duncan Music Lounge,
we have our guest, possibly the next All Elite Wrestling
World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Let's show some love to Darby Allen.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, Hello, sir, there you go. Just drop it, dude,
It's fine. So let's just I'd just like to have
these conversations in chat. I mean, before I brought you in,
I said potentially the next AW World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
When you hear that out loud, what like runs through
your mind? To me?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
When I hear that, I think of being the face
of this company. And I think there's no better person
in this whole company to be the face of it
than me, because I was never the guy on the indies.
I was never meant to really make it in the
grand scheme of wrestling as a top guy. And through
AW and them just saying do you do you like
chains off?
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Do whatever you want?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
And I've just connected so well with people that I
feel like it just no better person to show what
this place is capable of building.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
From a complimentary standpoint. What has been like the best
compliment you've gotten from someone, whether it's maybe they compared
you to someone else or maybe just someone sliding into
your DNS like, hey, you're killing it, dude.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I think compliment wise, it's just from a guy like Sting,
for example, like just being like, hey, man, don't change
the thing. What you're doing is working. And that's what
he said in the very first conversation I've ever had
with him, you know, the very first time I met him.
He's like, I love your work, I love your promos,
I love your look whatever, you know what I mean,
like your cinematic stuff that you film, Like just keep
doing that, don't change. And I was like, whoa, it's
(01:43):
kind of cool as validation, you know, And because when
you first enter wrestling, there's a lot of different routes
to take and it gets kind of intimidating.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
In a way.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Can I do this because I know it's gonna work. Well,
this guy looks really clean cut and like, you know,
prim and proper.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Should I go that route? Should I be a pretty boys?
Should they do? And You're like, no, man, just do.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You was there anything that you wanted to do in
a match and someone was like, hey, dog, don't do
that liability or just don't.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, but I did it anyways. I think a good
example is the glass. Okay, the glass was Sting the
last match, and people like, man, this is really dangerous
and like that wasn't sugar glass, that was shower door
glass and that.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Was that your like sole idea or was it just
something that you were battling around with friends to.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Try that was my sole idea. I think that I
was like, man, this is Sting's last match.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You only get one.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Shot at this, like we have to go balls to
the wall, all out crazy, like what can we do?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
And then it's like I just thought of that. I
don't know, I don't know why that, but I just
thought of that.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Did you think of other things and then landed on
that or was it just like one and done.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That's the one idea. That's what I'm going with.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, there's idea as a fire, but like it was
just like I think the glass is pretty much you know,
there's no way of faking glass, you know what I mean,
unless you use sugar glass. But I ain't gonna play
with that and give me, give me the give me
the good stuff. And I think, you know, with wrestling,
everything I do in wrestling, I wanted to there's no
(03:17):
holes through it.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
You can't see through it. You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Me getting thrown down a flight of steps at Daily's
Place by Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. That sucked, you
know what I mean? Like that, that's that's cement stairs,
you know, like that. But I don't want anyone like, oh,
he's just there's a padding.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
There's no no, you can't fake cement. No, it's shoot cement.
What was the worst bump that you've taken in your career?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
The worst bump? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Man, there was one time I was wrestling on the
Independence years ago. I believe it was twenty eighteen or no, yeah,
twenty eighteen. I was wrestling in New Orleans and they
have no padding around the ring. You know it just indies,
they don't, you know, they don't.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It costs money to put the mats down.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, And I did a dive outside the ring, but
my head hit the ground and I started kind of convulsing,
and I did get rushed to the hospital and I
was bleeding from the brain and they put me under
and I thought like that was that was like next level,
Like oh shit, Like it was like, you know, because
you get the wind knocked out of you or you
(04:25):
get a broken bone, but stuff with your brain.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
I feel like it's next level, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Because you're like I remember, they're like, Okay, you can't
drive for like a month after this. You have to
like sit in a dark room and just really chill out.
And I remember I just like grabbed the car. It
just started driving downtown Atlanta and I don't even know
what I was doing.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
It was like where'd you go? I was like I'm
in downtown, Like why did you?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And I was like I have no idea, Like like
so from Frohen, like a bump, like when that when
that happens, are you conscious or were you like knocked out?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And I was knocked out and then I finished the match.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
And it's kind of ironic because the finish was the
top rope power bomb, and I was the one taking
in it and not giving it, so it was salt
on the wounds.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It just hurts to beat Darby Allen.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, but no, right now, I actually feel really great
because a lot of people don't know what my physical
recovery Regimen's like, I'm like awesome friends with DDP and
he lives like forty five minutes for me, and he's
the king of physical recovery. So every time he gets
this new contraption, it's like I go over there and
it feels like we're playing a game of Saw where
we're just putting ourselves through like some crazy challenges.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
But it's just like it feels great.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Like I my whole downstairs is like literally a physical
recovery laboratory.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I feel amazing. So everybody asked me, like, how are
you feeling? Man, you ain't gonna be able to do
this when you're thirty. I'm like, well, I'm thirty and
I feel great.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
What would you say is the most important aspect of
the recovery process? Like is there a certain machine or
a certain is it just yoga? Is it just making
sure that like your neck is okay? What would you
say is most important?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I think the biggest thing is the mind.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
You know, it sounds crazy, but I've I talked to
Rick Rubin because he's really big into meditation. I talked
to him about meditation and then he put me onto
TM meditation. I went to a three day program where
I learned the art of TM meditation and it keeps
you balanced because I feel like if the mine is gone,
it does not matter how good your body is.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Now you were gonna scale what mountain? Was it?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Mount Everest?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah? Slight Flex. You broke your foot.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Two weeks before I was supposed to go, and everybody
said that was a fate, like you, that was fate
that you weren't supposed to climb, and I was like,
it's happening this year, Well that was gonna be my
next question.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Do you take it as a sign of, all right,
maybe this is some sort of reason not.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
To do it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, I take it as a sign of I really
need to do it now. Okay, like I wanted to
do it, but now I really want to do it.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So what goes into the preparation of training to literally
put your life on the line as you scale a mountain?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So a big part of it is I have zero
mount experience. However, so I'm thinking I got this machine
at my house called the Livo too, and it replicates
the Errol Mount Everest. So it's like a big bag
that plugs in. You plug it in the wall and
it puts like this air tank and you wear this
mask and to do cardio for like thirty minutes and
it like it kills you. But that and the ice bath,
(07:19):
I went on these mountains. We summoned it mountains and uh, Katman.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Do you know? Nepaul called Lobichet, which.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Is like twenty two thousand feet and I felt incredible
like summoning it. And they they're like, damn, you have
zero experience. How how'd you feel so good?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Mind you?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
The people I was with were shitting their pants, coughing
up blood, throwing.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Up, and they're like the professionals right, essentially.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah, And I was like, I feel pretty good. I'm
just tired because I've been up for twenty five hours.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And then I summoned a mountain because my sleep, I
just you can't really sleep that good when you have
no oxygen.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's something I found out the hard way. So I
was like, I stayed at for twenty five hours. Now
I'm climbing this twenty two thousand foot mountain. But I
was like delirious. But I did it, and I was
like WHOA, Like, man, how'd you do it? I was like,
I don't know if it's like the wrestling, because wrestling
is so hard, you know, you know what I mean,
or whatever it is, but I felt I felt great,
So I was really excited there. They were telling me, man,
(08:15):
you are going to rocket at Mount Everest. The only
thing that's going to stop you as an avalanche or
a yetty.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
But it was just like I that's I'm very confident.
I'm very confident.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And you know, I broke the foot, got three metal
plates put in there, but it hasn't slowed me down.
I came back to wrestling, you know, rocking, and I
went back to skateboarding rocking, and just the other week
I wanted to really test the foot out, so I
jumped off a sixty foot waterfall and it felt great.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
You could have done like physical therapy stretching to see
if your foot was fine instead of jumping off of shit.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah no.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But that's the thing though. It's I wrestled such an
intense way.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
That I you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The physical therapists don't understand that, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
But I do do a lot of physical therapy.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So working with someone like Sting the last few years,
like you have him being in a locker room with
so many veterans, What advice do they give you in
regards to knowing when it's time to like hang it up.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
They don't really give me advice because stay sixty four
years old jumping off the balconies. I think at the
end of the day, he just says he never wanted
to become a parody of himself.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
He never wanted to stay in the game long.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Enough to become a joke, you know, where it's like
a shell of his former self. And I felt like
in his final run, you can't argue and say that
Sting wasn't doing some of the best work his whole
entire career.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
So I think he left with his dignity intact.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
And that's the thing, is like I want to leave
when it's time to leave.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I don't want to stay too.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Long for the encore and then be like, ah, man,
Darry is a shell of his former self.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
What a joke? Give it up, old man.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
But you know, when did you find out, Hey, you
are going to be part of Sting's last match.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
This is legit, this is a thing.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And then what were your feelings when you found out
that you were going to be such a focal point
to that whole run.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
See, like I didn't know, you know, I felt like
I didn't even They had me sitting in the rafters
during the pandemic and I didn't even know why.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
And then there Cody came up to me and he's like,
you know why you're doing this right? I was like,
I don't know, just it just creepy. And then he's
just like no, like stings coming in and I'm like,
oh shit. He's like yeah, and I think we wanted
to be your partner and I was like, oh, well,
that's crazy, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And uh So the chemistry with us just worked so well.
And I pretty much knew when he said, like, hey,
I want you this whole time by my side, So
early on, I knew I was gonna be a part
of whatever the last match was, but we just didn't
know how we were gonna get there, or what we
were going to do, or who is going to be again.
(10:47):
So it's just there's a lot of twists and turns,
but it's just yeah, it was It was a validation because,
like I said, he told me not to change a
single thing, So it is validation that I belonged, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So speaking of twists and turns aw Grand Slam is
coming up this week.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
You're in a match.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You are technically number one contender for the World heavyweight champion.
John Moxley wants to take that from you, and then
somewhere in the back.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Christians just chilling waiting to take it from you.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And then hey, if Nigel McGinnis happens to win against Danielson,
if that match happens, there's just a lot going on
in that main event title picture. If you had it
your way, how do you become World heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
In Seattle at wrestl Dream.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
People are thinking I'm stupid for putting my number one
contendership because A I don't want to wrestle Brian.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
That's not one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
When I become the face of this company and I
beat Brian for that world championship, I want to do
it when he's at one hundred percent because I don't
want there to be any asterisk next to my championship win.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
But another reason I felt like I needed to put.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
This on the line against Moxley's because he was my
guy growing up.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
You know, when I first entered to pro wrestling.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It's kind of funny, like you look at a Sting,
but I couldn't relate to a Sting because Sting was
like on this icon status like so up here, and
I was like, well, that's not gonna happen for me.
But I saw a Moxley I'm talking to early John
Moxley before Switchblade, Sammy Callahan, John Moxley, and I was like,
(12:22):
this is a guy I can relate to, like just
the grittiness of everything. I was like, that's a guy
I feel like I can aspire to be like so
he told When Moxley says, you weren't ready five years
ago to be the face of this company.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You weren't ready two years ago. You ain't ready. Now,
why would I start taking.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Shortcuts before I even become world champion? That's what I
felt in my heart. So I'm gonna you know, I'm
the king of taking risk, But this is just to
put validation to everybody before I summit the top of
ae W that there is no challenge I'm going to
back down from.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So last year I interviewed Chris Jericho and we talked
about the biggest performers that never became world heavyweight champion.
So he mentioned a few icons from the eighties and
then talked about today, and he brought you up saying
that you have what it takes to be a world champion.
When you hear someone like Jericho saying that, or maybe
someone likes things say hey, it's your time.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You're ready, what the hell do you feel?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Because that I can't imagine what it's like looking at
these people that you to an extent idolize and look
up to and they're like, hey, we see it in you.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, it's it's wild because I never you know, entering
pro wrestling, it was so intimidating, so so intimidating, and
then just to know that you can summ at the
top of somewhere by staying true to yourself, that's, like,
the end of the day, like the only thing I
could ask for. So it's kind of like it's just
(13:49):
validation for everything, all the doubt that I had, all
the insecurities that I had. This is like when you
got guys that have been in this industry so long
saying that you actually have what it takes to be
the guy, Because being the guy of a national TV
company is no joke. It's no small feet, like being
the face and the carrying the championship. The company is
(14:11):
pretty much built around you. So it's like all eyes.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You know. Whether the company does good, that's a reflection
of you.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Whether company does bad, that's also a reflection of you.
You know. So it's just a it's just yeah, it's
gonna be a very interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So I have a few fan questions here, so I'm
gonna ask you a few of them.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
So you got hit by a bus? Dog? The fuck happened?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
You know? Raymond Pettibone, I know the name, and he's
the artist of this band called Black Flag. He created
the logo and he created the name of Black Flag,
and his artwork is famous. It's in the Museum of
Modern Art down here in New York. But he lives
down here, so.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Helping.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
He had a walker. He's not he doesn't doesn't got
any He's very slow. He was jaywalking in New York.
We were on the way to go see fam in
the opera closing weekend and his bus has taken a
turn and I knew they weren't going to see him,
so I had to like shuffle him across. They're taking
a rite and mind you I had a broken foot
at the time, so mister Darby can't move that fast
(15:17):
in the either. And the next thing I knew, I
smacked the side of the where the window is on
my face and still made it.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Fami and the Opera.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
You still made it?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Oh hell yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It was closing week No, no, no, Sweeney Todd. My bad,
it was Sweety Todd. It was closing weekend of Sweeney Todd.
And I was like, I have to see this. What
did you think of that show?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I've seen it. I saw it about a few months ago.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
It was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Like I really liked it, you know, like I I
like Broadway shows, and I put myself in the shoes
of like people watching it, like like I wonder, I'm
like really invested.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I know the finish, just because who hasn't seen you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Like I didn't know. I didn't know anything about Swoo.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Do you know the movie?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
No, I don't, I know, like it was a Johnny
Depp flick or whatever. But like I never yeah there
to watch.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It, yeah no, so but like I was so emotionally
invested in that I kind of put myself in the
shoes of like, damn, this is what it feels like
for wrestling fans to watch one of my matches.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
I will say it was kind of cool the lever
gimmick that they had to like slide them down.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, Do you have any favorite memories of New
York City aside from getting hit by a bus?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
No?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
That that's ah, that takes the top of the list.
I love New York.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Actually, I kind of like my early on in my
wrestling career in New York is kind of what made me, like,
you know, I built a really cult following you would say,
and evolve in La Boom there, Like that's where I
really connected with a group of fans, was in New
(16:48):
York for the first time.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Which, by the way, La Boom was like a nightclub
in Queens. Is it still Is it still still okay?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I have a cousin who's a DJ, so that's why
I looked at him to get the nod, so it
La Boom is still okay. So it's a nightclub in
Queens and then like they would randomly turn it into
like this massive wrestling venue and they had some really
dope shows there.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, yeah, very great shows. How does Rabbit mine?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Like?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
I also broke my elbow in that building, you know,
shout out Ethan Page breaking my elbow with a shovel.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's Can you come to New York and not get hurt? No,
you went to film school before getting dropped out of
film school too, But yeah, so you dropped out of
film school. How do you think going to film school
impacted your wrestling persona if any, if at all?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think just like the art form of you know,
promos and storytelling, because like when I watch films, I
want to watch a film that has a good story.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I don't really mind.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I don't really care for films where it's just like explosions, explosions,
there's no rhyme to the reason.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
They're just doing shit just to do shit, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
The Last and nine Fast and Furious movies.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Basically I haven't seen any of them, but like the
thing is, I just like having where the fans would
leave and have an emotional like connection to your performance
as supposed like that was cool because today in today's world,
there's so much going on, you know, especially in wrestling,
there's like, oh crazy match of the Year candidate this
week and then all of a sudden, no, this is
(18:18):
Match of the Year and nothing, nothing matters anymore unless
I feel like you tell a story.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
So that's the biggest thing I picked up from film school.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Who do you think is the most underrated performer in
aaw today?
Speaker 4 (18:33):
It sounds kind of strange to say this, but I
think it's John.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Moxley, Okay, because when he first came into this company,
he was the guy like I remember just being like,
oh my god, this this is like game changing for
him to show up at double or Nothing, and I
kind of felt like he was just.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
He kind of like was just another guy for a while.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
It was weird, you know what I mean, Like he
was thrown in a random mattress, like just for the
sake of it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
But if you give John the ball, there is no
better performer than him, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
And I felt like his run last year, he was
just kind of he became AWGP like champion, but in
the world of ae W, I felt like he was
just like he was just in like random mixed like
tag matches, you know, and I was like, man, this
guy legit.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
I felt something when he came out of double or nothing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I felt the energy in the room change, like and
then now I feel like he's put himself right back
into the fold with killing people with plastic bags.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Wild Angle, by the way, who was someone you've always
wanted to work with that you never got a chance to.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Brody Lee by Far, you know, like when he first
came to ae w Uh, I was like, I went
up to Tony Conness, like I need to wrestle that guy.
It just never fit, you know, royline Wise, it never fit.
And it's very unfortunate of the passing of him. And
but that was like the guy.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I don't know why.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
I just just felt like there was something we could
have done really really special.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So the final question, this is called the Superstar Crossover
for a reason. I want you to have a question
for our next guest. I'm gonna be interviewing WWE World
Heavyweight Champion Cody Rhodes tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So do you have a question for Cody Rhoads.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you
for getting me to AEW. I wouldn't be here if
it wasn't for Cody Roads. So thank you for Cody Roads.
So here's a question. Does he think I can actually
be the face of AEW. Does he believe I can
be the face of AEW because he got me here,
and he was here from day one when mister Darby
was so insecure and didn't know his true worth. Does
(20:50):
he think I have what it takes to carrie AW
in the future.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Do you know your worth now? Absolutely love that we
should all know our worth. By the way, one more time,
let's show some love to Arby Allen m HM.
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