AEW's Ricky Starks Clarifies Injury Status Amidst Recent Reports

Ricky Starks says he's not injured amidst reports he met with the AEW medical team.

By Haley Miller

During a tag team on AEW Collision back in March, Ricky Starks and Big Bill took on Top Flight in a tag team tournament quarterfinal. The winner of that match would go on to AEW Dynasty in the finals to crown the next champions after Sting and Darby Allin vacated the titles at Revolution.

Things seemed to be going accordingly until Starks was hit by a pelé kick to the head. He was favoring his neck after that and failed to kick out of a pin-fall that wasn't supposed to be a three-count. As a result, the referee stopped counting and Darius DDT'd him to draw the match to a quick finish. After it concluded, Starks was talking to the trainer and the referee. It's not the first time he's had a severe neck injury. Back in 2021 in a match against Hangman Page, Starks took a German Suplex, attempting a kip-up back to his feet. When he did this, he recalled feeling funny and after consulting several professionals and doctors about the injury, it was determined he fractured his neck.

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Starks was quick to reassure fans this time around that he was fine and it was just out of an abundance of caution but he hasn't been seen on television since. A report from PWInsider stated Starks was in Jacksonville last week to be checked by the AEW medical team. Starks jumped online this afternoon to dispute the any speculation that may cause, confirming that he was getting a routine physical like the rest of the locker room and he was never injured. "Yeah because everyone had to do their annual physical," Starks wrote on X. "To ease anyone's mind, I'm not injured. Never was. Pick another narrative pleaseeeee."

Prior to the injury scare, Starks was a tag team champion with Big Bill. They won the titles on Collision last October, defeating FTR. They held them until February, dropping them to Sting and Allin which marked Sting's first title win within AEW. Starks has been with AEW since 2020, often referred to as one of AEW's "four pillars." His first match in AEW against Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship set the tone for his time within the company and he has since gone on to win the FTW Championship, holding it for over a year. He was in Team Taz with Hook and Powerhouse Hobbs for a period of time until the group officially disbanded.

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