Ricky Starks made his official WWE NXT debut last week, followed by a contract signing and a promo segment with Ethan Page on this week’s show. After the episode, Starks appeared on Busted Open Radio, where he discussed his new WWE ring name, Ricky Saints, and addressed his departure from AEW.
Starks denied that his status in AEW was affected by his presence at past WWE events, such as Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, emphasizing that AEW CEO Tony Khan approved his attendance.
Regarding what led to his departure, Starks admitted there was no single defining moment but pointed to multiple factors:
“I don’t know the specifics of what it was. Some people, you ask the internet, it was because you were at the [Royal] Rumble. Screw you. The footage got leaked from me being at the Rumble. I wasn’t backstage…I left after the first match. Some could say well, you were at Wrestleania in a suite and you got on camera cheering. Screw you. You’re an idiot with no friends and no passion in life if you think the damndest thing I’ve done is cheering somebody on in another company…my boss was okay with it.”
“I can’t tell you exactly what the moment was. You could say it was Punk leaving and things kinda fell apart. Absolutely, I probably agree with you on that, alright? Or you could say is that Ricky didn’t play the politics well enough. Alright, for sure…there’s so many things you can say,” he continued. “What I can say for myself is that when I got hurt in March, that was it, I never came back. And even then, I wasn’t hurt, it was a precaution thing where I got scared as I had a stinger. Then I was fine. After that, no, no dice, no communication. No nothing. And that is okay because….I ended up here. And it’s fine. Everything worked out. I don’t know explicitly where it went wrong, I can’t point to one thing. I can say it was a storm of things probably. Did I do something that may have tipped them off? Sure, asking for my release whenever you know, this past whatever, that could have been about it right? But never once was I not willing to do something, never once was I sabotaging anything.”
Starks believes his release was more personal than professional, stating:
“I will say this, there are some people who stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn’t have happened. Veterans. And that’s it, I’ll leave it at that. And if they got a problem with me, they got my number. And text me about it. I think what it was is if it didn’t work for their creative, then someone had to get the boot. That’s how I see it. But I’m not trying to be negative in my thought process about it…if you want to step on me to get ahead in your illustrious career, everyone has an illustrious career. Everyone should have an illustrious career. That is perfectly fine. But at the same time, I’m not wet behind my ears.”
Starks will make his in-ring debut in WWE next week in Cincinnati, teaming up with Je’Von Evans against Ethan Page and Wes Lee.
With a new name and a fresh start in NXT, Ricky Saints is ready to carve out his next chapter in WWE.
Full audio of Ricky Starks breaking down his AEW exit on tonight’s Busted Open After Dark
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