Darby Allin: ‘Jackass’ Helped Me Find My Place in Wrestling

Darby Allin credits Jackass for helping him find his niche in wrestling. While guesting on the Steve-O's Wild Ride podcast, the AEW star spoke about climbing Mount Everest, becoming friends with guys like Bam Margera and how Jackass influenced him as a kid.

"When I do stunts, it's to knock down mental barriers in my head and it makes me mentally stronger, where I'm like, 'Dude, I can achieve anything.' I literally came from jack shit and I had no self-esteem whatsoever, so when I started doing crazy stunts it literally gave me the confidence to hold down conversations even with guys like yourself," Allin said to Steve-O.

"I grew up a massive fan of Jackass. I felt like it was an outlet. I wanted to bring that kind of shenanigans into the world of wrestling. The first time I brought a skateboard to TV, everyone was like, 'Holy fuck, there's never been a skateboarder wrestler.'"

Allin continued, "As a kid, I would look at the wrestlers and be like, 'I don't relate to anybody' in the sense like, 'I wanna grow up to be like so and so.' I felt like as a kid I couldn't relate to them. I could relate to skaters, [Jackass], musicians, you know what I mean? I was like man these are my type of people. That's why my whole M.O. in wrestling is to bring all these outside influences that a grew up with, like, 'This is what made me me.'

Allin also spoke about conversations he's had with AEW President Tony Khan about how stunts like his recent skateboarding world record on Mount Everest can help bring a Jackass influence into the company.

"I use Bam [Margera] as an analogy. Like, remember when Bam was a top skateboarder but his outside shenanigans were almost as big, if not bigger than his skateboarding? If I can do all this crazy shit outside of wrestling, it'll just help me and all of us even more in wrestling. All the outside shenanigans, to me, helps get eyes on [AEW]. Tony's like,' Yeah, good business model. Go jump off of whatever.'"