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Darby Allin didn’t see this dream match coming. The former TNT champion thought it would take some time before he would stand across the ring in a singles match against one of the wrestlers he greatly admired growing up and is compared to now. But Allin will get that chance to face Jeff Hardy in a quarterfinal match on the opening night of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament during “AEW Dynamite” (8 p.m., TBS) at UBS Arena on Wednesday. Before the big All Elite Wrestling match, Allin took time for some Q&A with The Post’s Joseph Staszewski.

Q: What’s your relationship with Jeff Hardy been like so far? I know he’s talked about you having a conversation the day he debuted in AEW. What was that conversation like and how have things evolved over time?

A: It’s one that has a lot to do with outside of wrestling. It’s the way I see him live his life outside of the ring, the stunts and the craziness that kind of draws me to him. I don’t get that from a lot of wrestlers. I don’t think I get that from any wrestlers. Nobody excited me outside the ring. To have that feeling with somebody, I’m like damn. So the first time I talked to him, we’re like, “Hey, you like to jump off of big s—t. I like to jump off of big s—t. You like dirt bikes. I like dirt bikes.” It was really like an organic relationship. It was super fun. For us to have that one tag match, me, Sting, Matt and Jeff down in Texas, that was also a lot of fun. It just feels very normal.

People thought this was a dream match and, yes, it’s a dream match for me, but man this came really quick. I was expecting it a little bit down the road to be honest. This came really quick, but now’s better than never. Wednesday, I don’t know what to expect. It’s gonna be an interesting one.

Q: You’ve been someone that a lot of people have compared to him, especially when he was younger. You said this is a dream match for you. Is Jeff someone you really looked up to and watched?

A: Yeah. From an artistic standpoint it’s been really cool because growing up and once I started getting older and in like junior high and high school, you can’t relate to a lot of people in wrestling, especially for someone like me. I was just skateboarding the whole time. I couldn’t relate to a big guy on steroids. It wasn’t gonna happen. But I could see a guy like Jeff that’s like a daredevil. It really drew me in because I was doing daredevil stunts on my skateboard. So I was like, man this is really interesting.

I remember watching some of his stuff when I was like 6 years old and I would climb on top of this piano at my old house in Seattle and try to do a Swanton (Bomb) off of the piano onto the concrete floor. That was my first introduction to trying to emulate Jeff Hardy.

Q: Do you like being that for this generation? That whoever the little Darby is now can relate to you in that way?

A: It means the world to me. Just to have this different approach to wrestling, a lot of young kids who may not feel they can relate to a lot of wrestlers, they can see me. It means the world to have anyone call you a hero.

Q: Have you and Jeff been able to hang out outside work at all?

A: Not yet. I invited him to Travis Pastrana’s house last week and he’s gonna go meet me there and we’re gonna go jump dirt bikes. It did work out time wise for him flying in a day early, which is probably for the best because who knows, both of us probably would have ended up falling hard on something.

Q: Your shared passions, is that something if the story is right you would want to bring together? You always put together videos or little vignettes. Is that in your head already?

A: It’d be nice. Like I said, this match kind of came very quick on me and I just thought originally it would have been crazy if we had a build to a singles match and like we had a promo battle were we could get crazier outside the ring leading up to the match. But here we are. We’re gonna get crazy this Wednesday.

Q: This match is part of the Owen Hart Tournament. Was Owen someone you watched at all growing up or maybe someone when you got into the business you checked out because people were talking about him?

A: I remember watching him when I was young and the older I got, the more you really understood how gifted he was from a technical standpoint and everything that goes into it. You go, damn, these are matches I’m gonna watch to study the art of professional wrestling. Owen was definitely someone I would study.

Q: What would it mean for you to win this tournament and do you think it would kind of push your singles standing forward if you would win this?

A: It would mean a lot for me to win this, to win any inaugural tournament, anything really. I’m the first AEW original wrestler to win a singles title with the TNT championship. That was a big thing for me. To win this tournament would mean just as much. It’s just validation for a company to be on top. It will definitely help your standing as a singles act. There’s times that I feel like I can go with the flow, but then there are other times I get really pissed off and I want to be in that top spot.

Q: You’ve said how you’ve been able to relate with Jeff, but it feels like you’ve forged this very special bond with Sting. What’s it been like to be mentored by him?

A: When people first heard that me and Sting were going to be partnered up they automatically said, “hey, it’s the face paint. It’s the only thing they’ve got in common.” If they knew how we were behind the scenes and how we are right now they would understand this is more than just the face paint. We have such a connection.

I remember back when we were (filming) at Daily’s Place for the year during the pandemic, I would be changing in the boiler room and Sting walked by and Sting has his own locker room, and Sting walked by and said, “What are you doing in here?” I said, “It’s a place I feel I can really be myself and cut loose and just think about what I want to do.” I don’t work well when I’m stuck in big groups of people. And then he’s like, “Dude come in my locker room. My locker room is your locker room from now on.” And I’m like, “Oh crap, really ok.” From there I’ve been changing in Sting’s locker room. It’s just me and him, painting up in his room and we talk for hours. There is so much stuff that goes into that partnership that people don’t get to see.

Q: What do you think you’ve taken from those talks and that kind of one-on-one time with Sting?

A: It’s just staying humble and how important it is to stay humble and how you can win in losing. You don’t have to have this big ego like, “Hey, I need to win everything” or “look at me.” Don’t have an ego. You can get just as over and just as popular losing.

Q: You’ve talked about how you convinced him to go back and have real matches again after working out with him. What’s it been like to see him go from not wanting to have live matches or being leery about it to jumping off the balcony and doing splashes now and maybe finding his confidence and not wrestling with that fear anymore?

A: I think it’s just finding the confidence, that’s all it was. It’s always been there. I think people’s attention spans are very short because he’ll have a killer match and then that city will chant “you still got it” and then a week later he’ll have a match and they’ll chant “you still got it.” Did you guys watch last week? I don’t get it. He’s never lost it to me and that’s why I thought him being in the ring live was the best thing ever.

Q: Is he pitching the high-flying spots or is it something you guys say, “Hey, it would be cool if you did this or are you OK doing that?“

A: A little bit of both. There’s times he’ll be like, “Yo, I’ve got to do something cool and jump off of something.” And I’ll be like, “cool.” And then there are times I’ll be at the building before him and go, “Hell, what do you think about this” and he’ll be like, “cool.” It’s a give and take for sure.   

Q: Cody Rhodes was one of the people who brought you in to AEW. What were your thoughts on him leaving. Were you surprised? How important was he to what you were able to accomplish at the start at AEW?

A: I’m just happy if he’s happy. That’s all it comes down to. Different roads everyone can take in this journey in professional wrestling. I know I wouldn’t be happy doing anything outside of AEW because of all the free time and all the skating that I get to do and all my side projects and the craziness. I can’t be tied down to following a schedule that much. But if he finds that happiness that’s all that’s important. That’s all that that really matters to me. It’s nobody’s business but his own.

He saw the passion that I had to be in AEW in the beginning and that’s why he chose me to wrestle him at Fyter Fest (in 2019). That was my debut. We went to a 20-minute broadway. To kind of take a relative unknown and work a wrestler like myself at the time and do that is very special.

Q: If you had your own reality show, what would you put it in?

A: What I do on my days off.

A post shared by DARBY ALLIN (@darbyallin)

Q: Like getting thrown into mosh pits and skateboarding during Ludacris concerts?

A: Yeah, everything. My life outside the ring is almost crazier than my life inside the ring, so I’d like to capture that. I think a lot of people would love to see it.

Q: Do you like the idea of having the signature coffin match that’s kind of yours now?

A: It’s fun because I get to build the coffin and do all these crazy booby-traps like putting thumb tacks on the inside of the roof. I think every time I go into a coffin match the coffin’s gonna be different. There’s gonna be a different paint job by my friend Charlie Ramone, who works for the company. It’s another outlet for my creativity.

Q: You talked about doing Swantons of the piano and relating to Jeff as a kid. What do you think it’s going to be like for that kid inside of you to be standing across from him on Wednesday?

A: At the end of the day it all comes down to the finish. It’s gonna be that much sweater when I hit him with the coffin drop. I’m gonna take it all in. I want to take it all in. I want to experience the feelings like I did in Chicago against (CM) Punk. I want to like stop and smell the roses. It’s very hard when you’re trying not to get kicked in the face, but I’m gonna take it all in on Long Island.