Since making a name for himself in the NWA and finding more success in AEW, fans have compared Ricky Starks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Although there are some similarities as Starks carries himself and looks like the former WWE Champion, he is his own man.
Starks will challenge MJF for the AEW World Title this Wednesday at Dynamite: Winter is Coming. Last week during their promo exchange on Dynamite, MJF stated that Starks was a “dollar store, Dwayne.”
For Stars, he knows who he is and opened up on the comparisons while doing an interview with ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley.
The Comparisons
“I tell this all the time, The Rock wasn’t my favorite wrestler. He was like my number three favorite wrestler,” Starks said “That’s not to discredit The Rock from any type of talent he has, but I say that to say he wasn’t a big inspiration.”
“I always tell this: I don’t hate the comparisons,” Starks continued. “What I do hate though, is being discredited for my natural creativity in lieu of someone saying, ‘Well, you’re just literally copying The Rock,’ which isn’t true at all.”
Starks pointed to his hometown of New Orleans for how he talks and doesn’t look to Rock as a mentor but respects him for having a great business mind and everything he has done in wrestling.
Starks added, “If some by chance, somebody thinks that I’m Rock-lite, then that’s cool.”
