Darby Allin

Sting may be nearing his in-ring debut at All Elite Wrestling.  

During Dynamite on Wednesday night, Taz laid down a challenge to Sting and Darby Allin on behalf of Team Taz. Allin and Sting quickly deliberated about the matter before the TNT champion accepted.

This comes after Sting involved himself in Allin's TNT title challenge against Brian Cage on the second night of the New Year's Smash special. He hit Ricky Starks on the outside with his trademark baseball bat to even the odds a bit.

AEW has been planting the seeds of the encounter for weeks, even going back to the former world champion's debut in December.

Beach Break is coming up on Feb. 3. That's a spot in which it would make sense to stage something as big as Sting's first match under the AEW banner.

AEW paid tribute to Brodie Lee (real name Jon Huber) with a Celebration of Life during Wednesday's edition of Dynamite.

The show began with the roster presented alongside the family of Lee. AEW ring announcer Justin Roberts served as emcee as the promotion honored Lee with a 10-bell salute:

AEW superstar Jon Moxley offered a touching tribute to a man he knew and worked with for over a decade:

AEW TNT champion Darby Allin said a few words as well, noting Lee's humility and willingness to share his knowledge with younger wrestlers:

Lance Archer also paid tribute to Lee's former WWE persona, Luke Harper, with the garb he wore for his six-man tag team match:

Numerous AEW personalities mentioned how much being a husband to his wife Amanda and father to his two children, Brodie and Nolan, meant to Lee, and AEW posted a montage of images featuring the Hubers together:

Brodie Lee died at the age of 41 on Saturday from a non-COVID-19-related lung issue.

An outpouring of support and remembrances have occurred since the news of his death, with AEW paying tribute all show long on Wednesday.

Sting provided another hint at what's to come from the legendary star Wednesday night on Dynamite.

Team Taz was standing on the stage following Cody Rhodes' victory over Angelico and threatened to attack the former AEW TNT champion. That brought out Sting, who sent a clear message without saying anything:

Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso reported Dec. 8 that AEW was looking to possibly get the WWE Hall of Famer back in the ring. Cinematic matches and big tag team bouts were referenced as the easiest ways to manage the workload for the 61-year-old.

It looks as though the promotion is slowly building toward the latter route.

During last week's edition of Dynamite, Sting told Cody that he'd be seeing him around. That seemed to hint at a possible encounter with Cody.

Instead, Sting might be aligning with The American Nightmare.

On one side, you'd have Team Taz (Brian Cage, Ricky Starks and Will Hobbs); standing on the other would be Sting, Cody and Darby Allin.

That would be a massive match, and the two-week New Year's Smash event is right around the corner. The first night is Dec. 30 before the conclusion Jan. 6. AEW could really ring in the new year right if it can hype up The Icon's return to the squared circle.

For the first time in nearly two decades, we heard Sting talk in a wrestling ring on TNT.

We still just don't know much about his intentions.

The Icon made his appearance earlier than expected during Wednesday's Dynamite, interrupting a segment with Cody Rhodes to hint at his possible future with AEW.

What's clear: Sting's first priority is not Cody, despite The American Nightmare very much wanting to be part of the company's moment.

Instead, Sting briefly addressed Darby Allin, saying the TNT champion seemed familiar before taking his attention back to Cody.

Sting said he plans on being in AEW for a "long time" but that how he chooses to spend his time in the company is "my business."

He left the ring after putting his arm around Cody and saying, "See you around, kid," in what seemed to be an ominous threat.

So, what does this all mean? It does not seem abundantly clear. Sting seemed to be teasing some sort of mentorship with Allin while at the same time setting up a potential match with Cody—albeit while also dismissing the son of Dusty as his first priority.

Which is all to say the segment was quintessentially Sting: captivating, confusing and offering no real indication of what's actually to come in the future.

At AEW Full Gear, Darby Allin defeated Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship to win his first major singles title and become one of the faces of All Elite Wrestling. 

He is only the third person to hold the belt since its inception after Rhodes and Brodie Lee, making him one of a handful of people who has held singles gold in AEW. 

Allin spoke with Bleacher Report to talk about beating Rhodes for the TNT Championship, his filmmaking aspirations and much more.

Cody Rhodes has only lost a few matches since AEW was formed, so beating him made Darby Allin a member of a very exclusive club. 

During the buildup to the showdown, Rhodes said Allin couldn't be the face of AEW because he wasn't, as Rhodes called him, the ace of AEW.

We asked Allin how it felt to beat The American Nightmare at the Full Gear pay-per-view on Nov. 7.

"It's the best feeling in my whole damn career," he said. "There's a lot going into it that made that match special. Even without the championship, just to beat Cody was a big milestone. The beauty of winning the TNT Championship is I did it as myself. I didn't have to change anything. I can look at myself in the mirror and know I was the same dude coming in as going out."

While the TV audience still tunes in every week, AEW has been affected by the pandemic just like every other sport and form of entertainment. Live crowds have only come back in a limited capacity, but Allin is no stranger to working in front of small audiences.

"I'm used to wrestling in front of small crowds of like five people so I am fine with it," he said. 

One of the unique aspects of Allin's character is his lack of promos. Instead of talking about what he is going to do, he expresses his thoughts through short videos he produces himself. 

"It's just me and my friend, Max Yoder," Allin said. "He films for Thrasher magazine, and sometimes we don't know what we are going to do until the day, and I think it adds to the beauty of it all."

In AEW, Superstars appear to have a lot more creative control over their characters and that has allowed Allin to use his unique vision in his videos.

"Half the time, those videos you see on TV won't be seen by anyone beforehand except maybe Tony Khan. I just make it and send it to him and we air it. There aren't a lot of hoops to jump through. He trusts me to go out there and get something weird," Allin said. "There's a lot of people who talk in wrestling about how they are fearless. I don't like to talk. I like to show people those videos. I can show them me jumping off an 80-foot bridge, so I don't have to convince them that I'm crazy."

Some of his videos have been vague and mysterious but others have included celebrities such as Steve-O and Tony Hawk. Interestingly, the videos with the famed skateboarder almost didn't happen.

"The whole backstory to [the videos] was insane," Allin recalled. "The day before we filmed, [Hawk] was skating in a pool and broke his fingers and we thought that the shoot was going to be off but I already drove six hours to San Diego.

"His assistant calls and says he's not going to be able to make it, so I ended up just trying to drop in off that ladder and I was eating total crap every time. Then his assistant said Tony was actually going to be able to make it and luckily I landed it right when he got there. I set all this stuff up myself with Tony Hawk and Steve-O. It's cool to be able to do that and make stuff happen."

Filmmaking isn't the only medium Allin wants to explore, though.

"I would like to do modeling, acting, the list goes on," he said. "Anything with art. I paint all the time. There is so much I want to do. I don't want to just be known as a wrestler."

Allin wrestles a risk-taking style. He performs maneuvers most would never think of attempting. It's the same style that got him noticed in Evolve Wrestling, and he has not changed anything for the television audience.

"I have not had to adjust anything. I have been wrestling this style on the independents for years," he said. "The only problem with the independents is the fans just want to see move after move and there is no time for storytelling. 

"I like fighting Jon Moxley because it feels like a real, intense fight. I feel like we get lost in the moment in the ring. I like other young guys like Sammy [Guevara] and Ricky [Starks] because we have a lot in common trying to prove we deserve that main event spot."

For the third consecutive week, AEW Dynamite prevailed in the Wednesday night wrestling war with a ratings win over WWE NXT.

According to Showbuzz Daily, All Elite Wrestling averaged 850,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while NXT garnered 638,000 viewers on USA Network.

Dynamite largely focused on the Inner Circle's trip to Las Vegas after MJF and Wardlow joined the group last week. Chris Jericho, MJF and Co. spoofed the popular The Hangover movie franchise and put on some entertaining segments over the course of the show.

In the main event of Dynamite, Cody Rhodes and new TNT champion Darby Allin fell to Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in a tag team match. Will Hobbs seemingly ran down to save Cody and Allin from an attack to close the show, but he instead laid Cody out with the FTW title and joined Team Taz after weeks of resisting advances.

Other key moments on Dynamite included AEW world champion Jon Moxley getting laid out backstage before his scheduled contract signing with Kenny Omega. Death Triangle reformed, with Fenix and Penta El Zero M rejoining Pac, and went against Eddie Kingston, The Butcher and The Blade.

Also on AEW, The Young Bucks beat Top Flight, Orange Cassidy defeated Kip Sabian, and Serena Deeb beat Thunder Rosa to retain the NWA Women's World Championship.

NXT was highlighted by the highly anticipated return of NXT champion Finn Balor after he missed the past several weeks with a broken jaw. Balor cut a promo, only to be interrupted by Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.

Just when it looked like the quartet was about to beat down Balor, the Undisputed Era returned after weeks on the shelf and attacked the foursome, which likely set the stage for a match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames on December 6.

The main event on NXT was one of the best television matches in recent memory, as Io Shirai defended the NXT Women's Championship against Rhea Ripley. While Ripley pushed Shirai to the limit, Io hit Rhea with a moonsault to secure the victory.

Additionally, there was a North American Championship rematch between Johnny Gargano and Leon Ruff after Ruff shocked Johnny Wrestling to win the title last week. Gargano seemed poised to win, but Damian Priest showed up and punched Ruff to intentionally get Gargano disqualified.

Also, it was announced that Candice LeRae and Shotzi Blackheart will captain teams against each other in a WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.

Other major happenings on NXT included LeRae and Indi Hartwell beating Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter, Kushida defeating Arturo Ruas, Ember Moon and Toni Storm beating Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez, and Timothy Thatcher defeating August Grey before getting confronted by Tommaso Ciampa.

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