Tony Khan holds Ricky Starks in high regard.
Khan spoke with CBS Sports‘ Shakiel Mahjouri ahead of AEW Double Or Nothing. Mahjouri asked for a status update on Starks, noting that Starks is a talent that a lot of fans were dying to see back on TV in “an interesting capacity.”
Ricky Starks’ last appearance in AEW came on the March 30 episode of AEW Collision. There, he and Big Bill lost to Top Flight in the AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarterfinals. Khan talked about Starks’ history in AEW and said he’s been a huge part of what they’ve accomplished so far. He went on to call Starks a tremendous talent and hopes to have him back on AEW TV.
Absolute-ly tremendous
“I really like Ricky Starks a lot. The last time we saw him here was in the World Tag Team Championship tournament. He and Big Bill formed a great team, and they were the World Tag Team Champions. They had a great run and it culminated in the last televised match of the legendary career of the Icon, Sting,” Tony Khan explained. “I think it’s a huge thing that their run, Ricky and Bill, that their run culminated in such an important match in Phoenix, defending the World Tag Team Championship against one of Ricky’s greatest rivals ever in AEW, Darby Allin. And somebody else, Sting, when you think back, was part of Sting’s first match back in pro wrestling in many, many years and that began a journey that went from Revolution ’21 to Revolution ’24, a three-year journey.
“We talked about five years of AEW. To me, the most special part might have been that three-year run of Sting. What we were able to do, give him what I think is the greatest sendoff in wrestling. Ricky was a huge part of that, Sting’s first match and last televised match, and Sting’s last title win,” Khan noted. “These are all huge milestones and Ricky is a huge part of them. And that’s only scratching the surface of all the great things that Ricky’s done here and all of the great matches he’s had with so many opponents up and down the card since he arrived here. I think Ricky Starks is tremendous, I’d love to get him involved and back in AEW anytime. He’s been a huge part of what we’ve done here for about four out of the five years, and tons of respect for Rico.”
Where is Ricky Starks?
During a recent interview with WhatCulture Wrestling, Ricky Starks reacted to the rumors that he was injured. He noted what likely started the speculation and said he’s currently healthy.
“It was… You know, there wasn’t any like specific statements of, ‘This guy is injured.’ I remember seeing a list. A list that was floating around. That wasn’t even verified. It was a list that people just assumed. And I was getting so aggravated because people were sending me a text message or something like that. Be like, ‘Are you hurt? Or what’s going on? Blah blah blah…’ And I was like, ‘No. I’m not hurt. I don’t know who is doing this.
“So when I went to get my physical, to… That’s Mike [Johnson] from [PW]Insider or whatever. He didn’t say that I was hurt. But it just… people alluded to like, well, he was there to get cleared. ‘No bro. I was just there to get my balls checked and do my physical.’ That was it. That was all I was doing. So yeah man, I haven’t been… I’m healthy, I’m great. I’m perfectly fine. So, I shouldn’t have any type of questioning of like, ‘Well, are you really?’ I was like, ‘B*tch, I’m telling you I’m not hurt. Like I don’t know what more you want me to say.’ So…”
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