Tony Khan provides an update on one of his company’s fastest rising stars.
The AEW President spoke with CBS Sports about Ricky Starks, who has not wrestled since the March 30th episode of Collision. During that match Starks was noticeably banged up, with many assuming the Absolute One had suffered a severe injury. However, Starks has since confirmed that he is not injured.
Khan told CBS Sports that he really like Starks, and that the former AEW tag team champion is a big part of what the company is trying to do. He adds that he is hopeful he will get him involved in programming again soon.
I really, 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. I think it was a huge thing that Ricky and Bill, that their run culminated in such an important match, 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, Ricky was part of Sting’s first match back in pro wrestling, and that began a journey that went from Revolution ‘21 to Revolution ‘24, three-year journey. We talk about five years of AEW, and maybe to me the most special part might have been that three-year run of Sting, what we were able to do to give him I thought the greatest sendoff ever in wrestling, and Ricky’s a huge part of that. Sting’s first match and his last televised match and Sting’s last-ever title win, these are all huge milestones, and Ricky’s a huge part of them. That’s only scratching the surface of all the great things Ricky’s done, and all the great matches he’s had with so many opponents up and down the card since he arrived here, and I think Ricky Starks is tremendous. I’d love to get him involved and back in AEW any time. He’s been a huge part of what we’ve done here for about four out of the five years,
Aside from his tag title run with Big Bill Starks held the FTW Championship, was the winner of the 2023 Owen Hart Memorial tournament, and has a victory over CM Punk. You can check out Khan’s full interview below.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)