Ricky Starks made a huge first impression on AEW television, answering Cody Rhodes' open challenge for the TNT Championship and earning himself a contract.
Starks had built up his name on the Independent scene, done extra work for WWE, and started making a splash in the NWA as the first NWA Television Champion in the Billy Corgan era. After his match against Cody on the June 17 AEW Dynamite, Starks almost immediately earned himself a contract with the company.
And WWE took notice.
“The funny thing is, the day that I wrestled Cody I got a phone call from WWE saying ‘Hey, we’ve been watching you and we wanted to bring you in’. I said ‘Oh really? oh ok. Interesting. Of all days’. And so I entertained that conversation because I was curious but I think I knew already which decision I was going to make,” Starks said in an interview with Chris Van Vliet. “And I had a very dear, great friend tell me once: you should look at the people who want to invest in you and not know anything about you as opposed to the people who only wanted you when they saw someone else having interest. So that put things in perspective and I don’t hold any ill will towards WWE but I really think they dropped the ball majorly on that. I’ll never know why and I guess I don’t care now.”
Starks has become a featured player on AEW television, joining Team Taz alongside Brian Cage and new member Will Hobbs. He competed in the main event on the most recent episode of Dynamite, teaming with Cage to defeat Darby Allin and Cody.
If you missed anything from the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
