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AEW fans were over the moon in 2021 when they found out that Sting was not only medically cleared to wrestle again but that he would also be wrestling on pay-per-view. However, his return to the ring might not have happened due to his partner being legitimately injured.
His partner, of course, Darby Allin, has been by the WWE Hall of Famer's side ever since he arrived in Tony Khan's company back in December 2020. The two men wrestled in a cinematic street fight against Team Taz at Revolution 2021, but it wasn't until nearly three months later that "The Icon" finally got back in the ring.
Sting and Darby wrestled at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2021, with the show being the first time since March 2020 that AEW was allowed to have a 100% capacity crowd due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What fans might not have known on that night was that the match might not have taken place, thanks to Darby Allin injuring himself while skateboarding a few weeks out from the show. Here's what he had to say to skateboard legend Tony Hawk on "Hawk vs. Wolf:"
"It was a week before he made his return on pay-per-view and the whole week, I was limping on my knee and icing it like crazy. I didn't know how to tell anybody that I flew into a wall skateboarding. It was a pay-per-view and so much riding on this match. I showed up and told everyone that I was training and I smashed my knee. 'Dude, you're really messed up.'" (H/T Fightful)
Darby also admitted that he did tell his partner that he was extremely banged up, but after showing the WWE Hall of Famer footage of how he injured himself, all was well.
"I low-key told Sting behind the scenes, 'What really happened?' He knows that I'm crazy outside of the ring. I showed him the video and he started laughing. That was pretty stressful." (H/T Fightful).
Sting will be in Darby Allin's corner this week on AEW Dynamite
Not only does Sting know that Darby Allin is crazy outside the ring, but he's also crazy inside it, as the upcoming January 25th edition of Dynamite will see Allin defend his TNT Championship for the fourth time since winning the belt from Samoa Joe on January 4th.
He has already defeated Juice Robinson, Mike Bennett, and Kushida, but this week sees Darby dig up an old rivalry as he defends his title against House of Black's Buddy Matthews.
Darby and Sting feuded with the House of Black for a large portion of 2021, with Brody King and Darby having a number of extremely physical matches that led to a coffin match between the two at the "Quake by the Lake" edition of Dynamite in August 2022.
It will be the first time since the "Grand Slam" edition of Rampage in September 2022 that Matthews will get the chance to wrestle Darby, as the current TNT Champion and Sting defeated Matthews and King in a no-disqualification match at the aforementioned Rampage special.
Do you think Darby Allin will retain his title? Let us know in the comments section below!
