Ricky Saints opened up about the mental toll of being kept off AEW television during a recent podcast appearance. The wrestler revealed that the lack of communication and ring time created significant challenges during that period.
Speaking on Getting Over: Wrestling Podcast, Saints addressed the stretch when Tony Khan wasn't using him regularly on AEW programming. He explained that there wasn't much discussion from his side about why he wasn't wrestling, which made the situation harder to navigate.
Mental Challenges of Inactivity
Saints described how staying active in the ring has always been central to his identity as a performer. The sudden absence of wrestling created an unusual mental struggle for him.
"Yeah. No, no, you know, no real discussion or or anything like that from my side of it in terms of uh you know, what was discussed and all that, but there was some restlessness just because I'm so used to wrestling all the time," Saints said. "And I think that's the type of person I am. I'm used to creating. I'm used to using my body for these things. And to not have that was a very odd uh place to be at mentally."
Independent Booking Complications
Saints also revealed that trying to stay active outside of AEW proved difficult. Getting independent bookings approved was complicated at the time, though he emphasized he doesn't hold any bitterness about the situation.
"And so you're having to figure out these other things, especially when it goes to like the independence. It was not as easy to get some of these independent dates cleared," Saints explained. "And um for there's no that's not a knock on the company itself. It's just conflict of interest for AEW and whatever independent that I wanted to do. Um, but at the end of the day, it all worked out. Truthfully, it all worked out. And I'm thankful for both sides. I'm thankful for AEW. I'm thankful for the Independence as well."
