AEW Star Suffers Neck Fracture Injury

The April 21 episode of AEW Dynamite opened with a match between Hangman Page and Ricky Starks in which the latter landed right on his neck during a German suplex spot. The match continued and Starks claimed on Twitter that he was okay afterward, but reports have since popped up stating “Absolute” is now dealing with a neck injury. Voices of Wrestling reported that Starks is now dealing with a fractured neck and will be out of action for three months, while Fightful added that it’s only a “slight fracture.”

His only match since that bout with Hangman was a tag match with Powerhouse Hobbs taped a day later for an episode of AEW Dark, though he did not actually wrestle in the bout.

Stay tuned for more details on Starks’ status as they become available.

Starks, a former standout in the NWA, first arrived in AEW last June to challenge Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship. He was quickly signed to a deal with the promotion but later revealed that WWE called him right after his match with Cody.

“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 told Chris Van Vliet in November. “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.”

AEW announced on Monday that it will be returning to touring with the July 7 episode of AEW Dynamite at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.

“We’re so appreciative of our fans in Jacksonville who have been with us these past nine months,” AEW president Tony Khan wrote in the announcement. “Their support and incredible energy have lifted us week after week, and viewers have fed off their enthusiasm and support. Daily’s Place will always be our home. Looking ahead, we’re thrilled to welcome our fans back to become part of the action in Miami, Austin and Dallas.

“We’ve missed touring cities, meeting the fans and hearing their roar during our live shows,” he continued. “Please be assured, we are working closely with the venues to comply with state and local regulations in each city. Miami, Austin and Dallas are the first of many as we gear up the trucks to travel around the country again!”