AEW star and current FTW champion Ricky Starks recently spoke to Denise Salcedo from Instinct Culture about the promotion’s newest signings, and his thoughts on how those top names can help propel AEW’s momentum upwards. Highlights from the interview are below.
Talks AEW’s newest signings and how it has impacted the company’s momentum:
“I think wrestling is always cyclical in terms of we had a down period, and now, we’re coming back up. I think that’s what’s happening with AEW because we have such a good rapport with the fanbase. And the reward system of giving wrestlers a chance and letting them go out there and wrestle. All of these things, it’s a big melting pot of success that will only get better as we keep moving forward. When I came into AEW in 2020, night and day difference. The landscape was totally different. So, to see it from that to what it is now – and we have so much more to go – I’m still amazed by that. I think that’s also due in part to help we had from the signings of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole – things like that. From that point, I do want to say we were building a base before these guys came. We built a platform and home for them to see, ‘Hey, that’s a place we want to go.’ The people that were here originally, they built all of this to bring in people like Bryan and Punk. Just like any type of building piece, we had that, then we had them come in, and then we have the young guys who are coming up being the stars they had been built up for. There are just so many cool parts. I think it’s cool to have someone like Punk, Cole, and Bryan because iron sharpens iron. We cannot get better if we just wrestle the same 50 guys we did the past 10 years. We need more experience…..I’m a fan of it. I really am excited for it.”
Says CM Punk signing surprised him the most:
“Punk. I was watching still at the time when he left, I just thought for sure that was it for him and there was no coming back from there. And then over a certain period, you just accept that he’s done. I think to see him back and actually be out there and watch it live when he first made his appearance and watch from the crowd, it’s a feeling I can’t even describe.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)
