Darby Allin has been with AEW from practically day one, and he says not everybody understood just how big of an opportunity they had when the company first launched.
During a conversation with Forbes’ Rob Wolkenbrod, Allin was asked whether AEW in 2026 still feels like the same company he joined back in 2019. Allin said the standard inside AEW has gone way up, especially compared to the early days when many wrestlers were still learning how to work television in real time.
That led Allin into his thoughts on the kind of locker room he never wanted AEW to become. He made it clear he doesn’t care whether he personally knows or even likes someone, as long as they care about AEW and want to produce at a high level.
“Because I never wanted to be in a company that felt like me and all my friends have a TV company. I don’t care if I don’t know you. I don’t care if I don’t like you. As long as you care about AEW and you want to produce some of the best, then I want you on my team.”
Allin then got into how some wrestlers approached AEW during its first year, and he clearly wasn’t impressed with everybody’s attitude. While he stopped short of saying it was widespread, he said some people seemed to believe they had permanent jobs and could simply hang out with their friends.
“I’m not going to say a lot of people—it felt like maybe some people were taking it for granted. Year one, they were treating it like spring break, like, ‘Oh, this is so fun. I got a job for life. I’m just hanging out with my boys.’ They weren’t going there with a mission.”
Allin’s mentality was completely different. He believed AEW had the chance to change professional wrestling by creating another major place for wrestlers to work, and he felt a responsibility to show fans what the company could become.
“But I’m like, ‘I have to show the wrestling world what AEW is capable of,’ because this changed the whole landscape.”
Before AEW existed, Allin said he didn’t think another major player could realistically enter the wrestling business. That changed the moment AEW came together, and he immediately knew it was where he wanted to be.
“When I first got in, I never thought it was possible to have another game in town like this. I thought at the time, ‘This kind of sucks.’ And then AEW started, and I thought, ‘I’ll do anything to be part of that company. Anything.’ And that’s where I knew I needed to finish.”
Allin believes he recognized AEW’s importance from the beginning, but he doesn’t think everyone around him viewed the opportunity the same way.
“So, I saw the importance of AEW from the beginning, but I don’t think a lot of people did.”
Seven years after AEW launched, Allin sees a company where the competition for television time is much tougher and where talent can no longer assume their position is secure. For someone who viewed AEW as a chance to change his career and the wrestling business itself, seeing some wrestlers treat those early days like “spring break” clearly stuck with him.
What do you think about Darby Allin saying some early AEW wrestlers treated the company like “spring break,” and do you think AEW’s locker room mentality has changed since 2019? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
