DALLAS — All Elite Wrestling made a historic announcement Thursday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, revealing that the pro wrestling company will host its biggest U.S. show to date on July 12 next year at the home of the Texas Rangers.
That future pay-per-view event -- called "All In: Texas" -- comes after the company has run its annual tentpole "All In" series twice at Wembley Stadium, where the promotion last year broke the record for the largest paid attendance in pro wrestling history with 81,035 tickets purchased.
Here in the States, the Arlington show is expected to draw some 40,000 fans -- almost double the company's previous domestic attendance high.
One day removed from that announcement, Darby Allin -- one of the biggest names in AEW, and considered by many to be a pillar of the promotion -- spoke about how he's particularly excited about that prospect, saying he never expected to see AEW running a baseball stadium show in the U.S. just over five years into its history.
"Being here six years ago on the ground level of AEW, nothing was guaranteed with anything," Allin said. "Everybody from the back to the wrestlers, we all had to work together and work extremely hard for moments like this."
And it's no accident, Allin said, that this milestone is happening in Texas. The wrestler has appeared on several episodes of "AEW: Collision" during its month-long residency at Esports Stadium in Arlington this summer, and he said the energy of the crowds in North Texas has been one-of-a-kind. More than that, it's an energy he said he believes will translate to the larger confines of Globe Life Field.
"Everybody for years has been saying AEW needs a pay-per-view in Texas -- like, why haven't we got a pay-per-view in Texas?" Allin said. "The fans, when they come out there, they're supporting this new thing. It's just a really good energy. And I feel like the fans pick up on that, and that speaks volumes."
Allin is known for death-defying stunts in the ring, often leaping from tall heights onto opponents with one of his signature finishing moves, the Coffin Drop. Already, he said, he's contemplating the big stunt possibilities he could have at Globe Life Field next year.
"After the announcement, I went off to the corner [and] I was looking around the stadium," Allin said with a laugh. "I was like, 'What's something extremely high I can jump off of?'"
A video of Allin went viral earlier this year when, while paired up with Sting in a tag-team bout that served as the iconic wrestler's retirement match, he attempted to dive onto his opponent, who'd been placed on a pane of glass. At the last minute, however, Allin's foe moved, and Allin smashed right through the glass himself -- opening cuts all over his back that required mid-match medical attention.
Sting, a North Texas resident himself, has visited AEW during several of the Arlington residency shows, Allin said. After having worked as a tag-team partner with Sting throughout his fellow painted-face wrestler's AEW run, Allin said he is now training one of Sting's sons to become a professional wrestler as well. Seems that, after both of Sting's sons popped up to assist their father during his retirement match, one of them -- Steven Borden, Jr. -- has decided to follow in his father's footsteps and turned Allin for guidance.
"He's doing really good," Allin said about the younger Borden's training. "He looks right at home there. He's not gonna miss a step -- because there's a lot of handouts in wrestling and Sting doesn't want his son to have a handout. So we've got to do it right."
That training, Allin revealed, has been taking place at his house in Georgia, where he keeps a working ring.
"It's a little unconventional," Allin said about the training.
Allin said the training includes having Borden run around the yard while Allin shoots at him with a paintball gun. The idea, Allin said, is to build up his trainee's pain tolerance.
One day, Allin said, he'd love to team with Borden in the ring just like he did his father.
"It's like a full circle moment," Allin said. "[Sting] didn't have to team with [me] -- but he wanted to. And then just to give his son what he gave me, that'd be kind of a cool moment."
It's the least he can do, Allin said. For as much as he worked with Sting in the ring, the AEW star said it's how Sting acted outside of the ring that taught him the most.
"He's so humble and chill," Allin said. "And he's done it all in wrestling -- he could have the biggest ego. But he was so awesome. Sometimes it was like, 'Don't you know who you are?'"
For his part, Allin said he just wants to continue to make the most of his career while he can. He said he thinks of pro wrestling like a 15-minute ride that you have to get off of eventually, and that some people can forget who they are in life when they have to get off that ride. Sting never forgot that, Allin explained.
"But [Sting] was so grounded and humble that, when all's said and done, he could look at himself like, 'I know exactly who I am,'" Allin said. "It's so cool because wrestling can either inflate people's egos to really crazy lengths or you can just stay humble."
It's all about being careful not to lose your identity, Allin said. And, in many ways, that's a lesson AEW is applying, too: Even with the massive Globe Life Field show in the works for next year, AEW is keeping its hardcore fan credentials in place thanks to unique smaller showcases like the ones it's hosted this year at the Esports Stadium.
That's what makes moments like the one AEW is set to experience here in North Texas next year all the more special.
Said Allin: "To be there from the very start and to watch this build has been awesome."
The last AEW show in Arlington is at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Esports Stadium in Arlington. For details and ticket information, click here.