Darby Allin Says It Isn’t Tough To Reference Buddy Wayne’s Death In Promos With Nick Wayne
Darby Allin discusses using Buddy Wayne’s death in AEW storylines.
The story of Darby Allin and Nick Wayne is well known by many wrestling fans, as when Nick’s father Buddy tragically passed away in 2017, Allin became an older brother to Nick. Now, Nick is on the AEW roster and has been working with Darby Allin. Heels in the company have also used the low hanging fruit of Buddy’s death in promos.
Speaking to Steve Migs, Darby was asked if it’s tough to reference his real life history with Buddy while working with Nick.
“It’s not. The thing is, people in wrestling search for the next story and the whole time it’s in front of you. Real life writes itself. I did go to the Buddy Wayne Academy, I started training there, I had no wrestling knowledge before that. I had a big falling out with Buddy where we both said some things. I said, ‘peace out, I’m doing it my way. Screw off.’ I didn’t talk to him for a year and a half, two years, and then I got the call that he died. I was like, ‘Ah, man, that sucks.’ It sucked because I burnt that bridge. It also put in perspective of how petty you can be with holding onto things. Now, through meditation and everything I do through Rick Rubin’s programs. It teaches you to not get mad. I never get angry. It’s cool to know that I don’t hold grudges with anybody. If I didn’t have a grudge against Buddy, at least I would have known before he passed that we were cool. I messaged Shayna after Buddy passed, ‘I know you probably don’t want to see me, but I’m coming over. I need to do this for you, and I need to do this for Nick.’ I went there and I said, ‘I know you don’t want me here, but a man passed away, we need to get over this shit now and we need to remember what brought us here.’ I would go on family trips with them and do so much with them. It’s a matter of, ‘I’m part of your family.’ I never lost sight of that. There is a bump in the road. Now, it’s this crazy full circle moment that we’re using that on TV, but also knowing Buddy watching this shit, I think he would be super stoked. Nick has done this on his own. We can all agree that Nick is very talented. It’s not me putting a word in for my buddy. Nick got into it by being Nick. I just pushed him into a spot right when he got here, ‘sink or swim, you’re in the deep end now. We aren’t starting you off with random matches.’ He’s been able to ride with that and adapt to all of that, which speaks to his talent,”
Darby Allin
Darby will team with Sting to take on Christian Cage & Luchasaurus at AEW Rampage Grand Slam. Christian also sent a chilling message to Darby on Dynamite, telling him to “bring the boy”.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.ⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘ