Darby Allin

Lore & Background

Ratsch began his professional wrestling career in 2014, competing for various independent promotions including EVOLVE, Progress Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide before signing with AEW in 2019. Since then, he has become one of the promotion’s most featured performers, appearing in major matches at events such as All Out, Full Gear, Revolution, and All In, and winning championships, including the AEW TNT Championship thrice, the AEW World Championship once, and the AEW World Tag Team Championship once (with Sting). His wrestling persona incorporates influences from punk rock and skateboarding culture and is known for a high-risk, unorthodox in-ring style. Outside the ring, Ratsch lives a straight edge lifestyle and has pursued interests in filmmaking, skateboarding, and mountaineering.

Reader's Guide

Samuel Ratsch was born in Seattle on January 7, 1993. During his youth, he participated in track and field and played football, inspired in part by one of his grandfathers, who had played in the National Football League. He also briefly took part in amateur wrestling, mistakenly believing it was the same as professional wrestling. Ratsch attended a film school in Arizona but left to pursue a career in skateboarding.

He was trained by AR Fox and Buddy Wayne. In 2014, under the ring name Darby Graves, he made his debut for Blue Collar Wrestling in Portland, Oregon. He later adopted the ring name Darby Allin and competed extensively across the American independent circuit between 2015 and 2019. He signed with AEW in April 2019.

His first match for the promotion was at Fyter Fest, wrestling Cody to a time-limit draw. He won the AEW TNT Championship three times: first at Full Gear on November 7, 2020 (defeating Cody), second on the January 4, 2023 episode of Dynamite (defeating Samoa Joe), and his third reign ended with a loss to Samoa Joe on the February 1, 2023 episode of Dynamite. He also won the AEW World Championship once and the AEW World Tag Team Championship once with Sting (winning the titles on the February 7, 2024 episode of Dynamite and vacating them after 25 days).