Former AEW Men’s World Champion Darby Allin is likely to be remembered for many things, chief among them his association with wrestling legend Sting. The duo’s four year partnership in AEW not only provided Sting with a late career resurgence after he seemingly retired in 2015, but many believed helped launch Allin from a promising young talent into one of AEW’s most important talents. But their bond goes beyond the ring, and has influenced Allin not just as a wrestler, but as a man.

In an interview with the “Battleground Podcast,” Allin was asked about that bond, and what life lessons he had learned from Sting away from the ring. According to Allin, Sting imparted two separate yet equally important bits of advice to him.

“Just to know that life goes on after wrestling,” Allin said. “When this ride is all said and done, you want to look in the mirror and know who’s looking back at you. I don’t want to get caught up with the fame and the ego and everything like that, because when this is all said and done, if you’ve spent your whole career trying to undermine and backstab everybody, you’re going to have a very lonely existence when it’s all said and done. 

“And also, everybody, you’ve got to be your true self, you’ve to be as pure as possible, because if you listen to ten different people telling you ten different things on how to be yourself, you’re not going to know when this is all said and done, and the wrestling world is done with you, you’re just going to be ‘Oh, oh, I don’t know how to live without it. I don’t know anything about me.’ It’s like, no, just be humble and chill, you know?”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Battleground Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription