Originally published to 8 News Now on February 10, 2024.

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Darby Allin is one-half of the All Elite Wrestling Tag Team Champions with esteemed performer Sting, and as the icon nears his retirement, the 31-year-old wrestler is helping his mentor to a legendary ending.

“To me, the most important part of a career is the ending,” Allin said. “If you tarnish the ending of your career, people are always going to remember that. So for me and Sting to go out on top, there’s literally no better feeling.”

“The Man They Call Sting” is still going strong at 64 years old, powering toward his retirement match with Allin, facing off against Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, at AEW Revolution on March 3.

“It’s wild because every time he jumps off a balcony, everybody’s like, ‘Darby, you got to tell him to stop doing that.’ I’m like, he doesn’t listen to me anymore,” Allin said. “You can’t call it peer pressure ’cause he’s like 35 years older than me.”

The last time Allin performed in Las Vegas, he was in a fatal four-way main event for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship with then-champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Sammy Guevara, and “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry. He fell short in that effort, but Allin made it clear that a championship reign is in his long-term plans.

“I want to be the face of this company, and to be the face of this company, you got to be world champion,” Allin said. “Definitely, the world championship scene is […] in my future if I survive Mount Everest.”

Yes — you read correctly. The AEW star plans to take on Mount Everest in what he describes as a “vision quest” meant to remind himself of who he is. Allin has been training for his big climb, working through stringent training programs. He’s confident that he’s ready.

“I think I got it, unless […] an avalanche comes or […] a Yeti throws me off the mountain,” Allin said with a smile. The Yeti might have its work cut out for it.

One newcomer to the All Elite Wrestling locker room is Adam Copeland. The legendary pro-wrestler made his first AEW appearance on the Oct. 1 WrestleDream pay-per-view event, preceded by a vignette that Allin himself helped put together.

“[Copeland] has such a childlike wonder in his eyes, and he’s so excited,” Allin said. “He’s like, ‘I haven’t been this excited in forever.’ And it was just […] guerilla-style filming. It was really fun.”

Allin isn’t new to content creation and said that he’ll be starting production on a full-length film he will be directing sometime after his jaunt up Mount Everest.

“I was going to film school in Arizona, and I dropped out because they wouldn’t let me make the movies I wanted to make,” Allin said. “I wrote the script back 10 years ago, but now I have the resources to actually do it, so I’m going to do it.”

As All Elite Wrestling’s event at Henderson’s Dollar Loan Center arena nears, Allin said he expects “madness,” adding that there is nothing in live entertainment quite like pro wrestling.

“I really believe with AEW every week, it’s something completely different because, dude, the chains are off,” Allin said. “The other night, Sting — 64 years old — jumping off a balcony. It is just wild.”

Tickets for AEW Collision are available now and start as low as $20.