AEW: The Time Has Come for Darby Allin to Turn on Sting

Last Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, Darby Allin lost in the main event to Andrade El Idolo.  It was a match that Allin seemingly had won as he had Andrade in a Fujiwara armbar, a move that Allin has used to win matches recently.  However, Sting was being attacked by the Butcher and the Blade at ringside, causing Allin to become distracted and ultimately causing him to lose the match.

This isn’t an uncommon theme for Allin in recent times.  Since dropping the TNT Title to Miro, Darby Allin has had four high-profile singles matches against top-level talent.  Allin’s record in those matches is 0-4, with losses to CM Punk, MJF, Sammy Guevara, and Andrade El Idolo.

As cool as it was, and probably still is, for Darby Allin to be able to team with Sting, at some point that is going to take a backseat to Darby’s title aspirations in AEW.

And that time is rapidly approaching.

Now is the right time for Darby Allin to turn on Sting.

The timing for a Darby Allin heel turn could not be much better than it is right now.  As stated above, Darby is in the middle of a losing streak in what would be considered high-profile singles matches.

This losing streak is accentuated in Allin’s case based on how his career in AEW started.

Darby was the first “homegrown” AEW talent to really take off under the promotion’s banner.  He went from not making an appearance on the first televised episode of Dynamite (he did however defeat Cima on AEW Dark that night) to being in the main event of the third-ever episode of Dynamite, taking on Chris Jericho for the AEW Title in a Philadelphia Street Fight.

Darby Allin would create thousands of new fans that night as he pushed Chris Jericho to the limit, with Allin’s hands literally tied behind his back for a portion of the match.

While Allin would lose the match due to heavy interference from the Inner Circle, he would see his star shine bright in defeat.   This would continue week after week as the young antihero would continuously get one of the biggest pops of the night whenever his music would hit.

In the past year, however, the momentum train has stopped for Allin.  And while he is still a very over performer with the fans, he seems to have plateaued in terms of wins and losses.

The story of a Darby Allin heel turn writes itself because of that.

The awe of just working alongside Sting is more than likely wearing off by now.  And that contentedness will be slowly building into a burning frustration that Allin will not be able to hold in for much longer as he continues to lose matches.  At some point, Darby will snap, and Sting will be the one that Allin blames for all of those losses.

Another reason AEW needs to make this heel turn happen now is playing out in another storyline between Wardlow and MJF.

Wardlow is becoming one of the biggest faces in AEW, and a large part of the reason behind that is because of his past relationship with MJF and just how despised MJF is.

A heel turn now would ensure similar results for Allin.

Turning on such a beloved character as Sting would instantly garner an insane amount of heel heat for Darby Allin.  Sting has continued to endear himself to older fans while making new ones as well, as he continues to deliver in AEW in a way that no one could have seen coming.

If AEW sets up Darby’s turn on Sting to be especially brutal it could create a storyline for Double or Nothing that might be able to rival the fan investment of what the CM Punk and MJF story gave us at Revolution.

Darby Allin has proven for the past two years that he is more than a capable babyface.  But to be a true star in professional wrestling, you need to be able to play both parts well.  AEW, whether they meant to or not, has set up the perfect scenario for young Darby Allin to show the world what he is capable of as a heel by turning on his mentor.