Another one for the Darby Allin is a Certifiable Maniac highlight reel. Everyone's seen the clip where he gets suplexed into the steps. It was all over the social medias and even a couple of my friends who don't follow wrestling but know I'm the sort of idiot who does sent me it, so I guess it was crazy enough that it permeated the meme zeitgeist populated by people in their mid-30s who work in construction sites and scroll through twitter during their lunch break. Probably. Anyhow the bump is sheer lunacy and really the only person who'd consider taking it is Darby, but everything in the match around it is really good too. Darby's tope at the start was amazing and nobody hits an out-of-nowhere tope like Darby. Every time I see PAC he's roided up even more than before. Sometimes it shocks me that he's able to fit so much muscle into such a tiny body and still manage to move the way he does. Darby was all over him early and when PAC decided to bring the steps into it, it felt like a move from a man who wanted to be entirely rid of Allin. PAC does also look like a very unpleasant little man so him trying to break someone in two with an overhead suplex on steel steps feels on brand. Darby's selling was pretty tremendous the rest of the way and there was yet more gnarly shit to be had, including PAC slingshotting Darby's face into the middle rope. I liked PAC tweaking his previously-injured ankle stepping down off the ropes, giving Darby a lifeline that he HUNGRILY accepted and then sandwiched said lifeline in a folding chair and jumped on it.
Darby Allin v Samoa Joe (No Holds Barred) (AEW Dynamite, 2/1/23)
There can't be many match-ups in wrestling history as obviously perfect as this one. Darby will do insane shit and Joe will murder him; on the most basic of levels how could that not work a treat? It started as wildly as you'd expect a Samoa Joe/Darby Allin no holds barred match to start, with Allin flying into Joe while wearing a thumbtack-studded shirt before Joe plucked him out the air and squashed him. A lot of the match was built around Darby having to capitalise on glimmers of hope, usually by doing something that could land himself in hospital, while Joe could swing the tide with brute force and rage and surliness. Once again - Darby's tope might be the best in wrestling and this one looked tremendous, the way he zipped into that table and smashed the metal framing into Joe's face. It opened a mean cut above Joe's eye and the visual of that itself is badass enough, but it gave Joe's savagery an even sharper edge. There were several moments where he flew off the handle and literally chucked Darby away. First he did it on the stairwell where he dumped Allin headfirst on the steps, then later he launched him clean out the ring by the armpits. Darby is really an all-timer at finding creative openings and I loved him pulling powder from who knows where to avoid getting splattered with a powerbomb. He also, to the surprise of nobody, took some truly vile bumps. The suplex on the chair backs was clearly ludicrous but being smothered with the thumbtack shirt was sort of low key disgusting as well. But for all the crazy bumps it's Darby's selling of damage and how uphill his struggles are that sets him apart. He looked completely fucked at points (possibly/probably was?) and very few do it like he does. The thumbtack shirt Coffin Drop was an awesome desperation move and him digging his thumbs in Joe's eyes to break the choke was super nasty. He bet the farm on his final play, but Joe had the counter for it and if you don't wince at a Muscle Buster on an exposed wooden ring board then you've probably seen too much wrestling. You know this was great.
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