AEW Star Darby Allin Finishes Macabre Sleeve

In the world of professional wrestling, few things are as important as maintaining kayfabe. As the industry relies on giving a sense of reality to contests that have been predetermined, kayfabe is the art of living out a storyline as if it were real. Simply put, if you play a rotten person in the ring, you damned well act like an asshole outside of the ring as well. As the industry has changed over the years, kayfabe has become less important, but it hasn’t gone away. Darby Allin of All Elite Wrestling is taking kayfabe to the next level by getting a full sleeve tattoo that fits his in-ring persona to a T. 

Prior to getting in the squared circle, Allin dons facepaint on half of his face, giving him a half skeletal/half normal appearance. When combined with his affinity for dressing in black and his fondness for skating, he’s sort of a punk rock Two-Face. Now, thanks to tattooer Caleb Morgan, Allin’s left arm will never break character. 

Allin has had the bottom half of the sleeve done for a little while, but this past weekend he had the top finished. While the sleeve is completely awesome, it does sort of pigeon hole Allin into one type of persona for the rest of his career. It’s hard to imagine WWE ever calling on the grappler to become a babyface star any time soon, not that that would be a call that Allin would even want in the first place. 

This isn’t the first of Allin’s tattoos that vibe with his character. On his sternum, Allin has the phrase “Nothing’s Over Till You’re Underground,” exactly the kind of sentiment you would expect from somebody with half of his face painted like a skull. Allin also has tattoos across his knuckles that read, “Drug Free,” a clear homage to his straight edge lifestyle. Hell, even his name is a tip of the hat to punk pioneers Darby Crash and GG Allin. 

For some, keeping up kayfabe can be a chore. For Allin, he’s just living his life the way he wants, tattoos and all.