Darby Allin Talks about His Beef with Buddy Wayne and Current Work with His Son Nick

In a recent conversation with BJ & Migs Daily Podcast, AEW’s Darby Allin shared some background on his personal history with Buddy Wayne and how it plays into his current work with Buddy’s son, Nick Wayne (via Fightful). Allin explained how his past tensions with Buddy Wayne left him with regrets after Wayne’s death and how he has moved forward to work alongside Nick in the aftermath. You can find a highlight from Allin and listen to the complete interview below.

On the effects of working alongside Nick Wayne given his personal history with his father: “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.”