Darby Allin on referencing Cody Rhodes on Dynamite: ‘He’s the reason I’m in AEW’
Darby Allin says Cody Rhodes is the reason why he’s in AEW.
On AEW Dynamite last week, Allin cut a promo directed at The Young Bucks that implied it was Rhodes who brought him into the company. Some were critical of the promo, as it led to fans chanting for WWE’s top babyface on an AEW program.
Allin was recently asked by Digital Spy why he mentioned Rhodes during the segment. He responded:
That’s easy because he’s the reason I’m in AEW. You think back to my debut, I wrestled him at Fyter Fest and we went a 20-minute Broadway draw.
For him to take a chance on me that early… I was relatively super unknown still, I was never really the guy on the independent scene.
He did that. You’ve got to give respect where respect is due. I feel very strongly on paying homage to how I got here because I never thought I was going to get here.
I begged people for jobs, I wasn’t part of the little ‘California crew.’ I had to sit by and watch all these press conferences and have all these people that had no business being on national television get on national television.
Meanwhile, I knew exactly what I was capable of doing if I was given the opportunity. Fast forward all these years later and now look at me.
As for the criticism levied against the promo, Allin says it wouldn’t have made sense to ignore history.
Allin continued:
My biggest problem is when people try to ignore the history of things as if something never happened. I’m like, we’re not stupid, come on.
I only pay attention to what I think, I really don’t care about what anyone else thinks.
You’ve just got to listen to yourself about things. I really felt it was important for me to tell my part of the story leading into that match and not just be this second-rate character going into the match.
I have a lot of things I wanted to say to the Young Bucks and I said it and so be it. I just want to go out there and speak my mind on things.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed the segment on last Thursday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer said:
I thought that Darby Allin interview was so counter-productive, I couldn’t believe it. They eneded that show last week with a hot angle and he comes back, and his blood is all over these guys’ jackets, never brings it up. They beat up Sting’s sons with a baseball bat, never brings it up. They beat up Sting and him with a baseball bat, bloodied him up, never brings it up. Basically, his interview was to get over Cody Rhodes, the biggest star in WWE, or the biggest babyface in WWE.
Our own Bryan Alvarez also addressed the segment on a recent edition of The Bryan and Vinny Show, available now for subscribers.
Alvarez said:
I talked to a lot of people in AEW about this today and, man, I didn’t hear one person say that this was good. Now, there was a range. There were certain people that said like, ‘I don’t know if it was as bad as Dave said but yeah, swing and a miss. The follow-up to last week’s beating definitely could have been done better.’ And then I had other people there that were like, ‘I have no idea how this got to the ring. Like, I would have fought someone if I knew this was going to go through the curtain.’ Furious at this segment right here.
Rhodes and Allin wrestled four singles matches while both were in AEW. They went to a 20-minute draw at Fyter Fest 2019, then Rhodes defeated Allin on January 1, 2020, Dynamite. Rhodes defeated Allin again that April in the semi-finals of the TNT title tournament. Allin would finally defeat Rhodes at Full Gear 2020 and win the TNT title in the process. They also teamed together four times in AEW, winning two and losing two.
