More has come to light about Ricky Starks who continues to be absent from AEW programming. Starks hasn’t been seen on TV since the March 30, edition of Collision, where he and Big Bill faced Top Flight in an AEW World Tag Title Tournament match.
Starks suffered a nasty DDT during that match and was pinned, though it was later reported that he and Bill were supposed to advance in the tournament. Since then, Bill has aligned with Chris Jericho and his tag team with Starks has been entirely dropped.
Interest from WWE
There is “certainly interest” in Starks, among other AEW stars from WWE, sources in the company told Mike Johnson of PW Insider this week. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claimed that “a lot of people” in AEW believe Starks is heading to WWE, which is why the company is not “investing” in a storyline for the former FTW and AEW World Tag Team Champion.
Ricky Starks And WWE
Starks has a handful of WWE matches to his name already, as he has previously worked as an enhancement talent for the company. Ironically, his match on the January 5, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw would see himself and Aaron Solow collide with future AEW alum FTR, then known as The Revival.
It’s no secret that Starks is a friend of Cody Rhodes, and was spotted at the 2023 Royal Rumble PLE ahead of Rhodes’ return from injury that same night. Starks later told Stephanie Chase that he didn’t care about “tribalism” and wanted to be there to support his friend. Rhodes’ return from a torn pectoral would see him win that year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Starks was also spotted at WrestleMania 40 in April of this year, once again to support his friend. The two-night mega-show saw Rhodes ‘finish the story’ and win his first WWE World Championship from Roman Reigns.
