Ricky Starks will no longer be making appearances for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), despite a recent setup for future involvement with the promotion.
Starks made a surprise appearance at a GCW event on Saturday, just hours before being backstage at AEW's Full Gear. During the GCW show, he cut a promo referencing his frustrations with AEW, claiming he had been "frozen out" by the company. He interrupted GCW regular Jimmy Lloyd, who had mentioned Full Gear, and the two exchanged heated words. The segment ended with Starks laying Lloyd out with a DDT after being insulted, setting up a future match.
Starks has not been featured on AEW programming for months, despite repeatedly asserting that he is healthy and ready to wrestle. This led to speculation about his status within the company.
However, on Monday evening, GCW announced that Starks would no longer appear at several upcoming events, including the December 14 show in Los Angeles, an unannounced match on December 28 in Seattle, and another on January 19 at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
The announcement followed an interview Starks did with Chris Van Vliet earlier in the day, where he addressed his absence from AEW television. According to Fightful Select, sources within GCW confirmed that AEW made the decision to pull Starks from these appearances. The decision appears to be tied to recent comments made by GCW's Effy regarding AEW President Tony Khan's father, Shad Khan.
While some within AEW speculated that Starks was working his GCW appearance into a storyline, sources have confirmed that this was not the case.
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