Ricky Starks has vanished. The Absolute One has not been seen on professional wrestling programming since March, when he and former tag partner Big Bill lost a tag title tournament contest. Just weeks prior to this, Starks and Big Bill were AEW Tag Team Champions and were regularly featured on AEW programming. Today, Big Bill is aligned himself with Chris Jericho, a hard pivot from his tag unit with Starks, while Starks has not been involved in anything on AEW television. This is a far departure from where Starks was this time last year, as he had won the 2023 Owen Hart Cup Tournament, was a centerpiece of AEW Collision, and was poised to headline .
Ricky Starks Garners “Significant Interest” From WWE NXT
Even amidst his absence, the greater wrestling world has its eyes on Pretty Ricky.
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As reported by Fightful Select, there is “significant interest” within WWE, the NXT brand specifically, in signing Ricky Starks when he hits free agency. The report adds that Starks’s former AEW colleagues and current WWE stars Cody Rhodes and Jade Cargill have “spoken highly” about the former AEW Tag Team Champion’s in-ring work.
There is no word as to when Starks’s AEW contract is set to expire. Starks officially signed with AEW in Summer 2020 and recently surpassed four years with the company. His current situation seems to be a holding pattern between himself and AEW, as Starks emphasized that he is not injured and wishes to be back on AEW TV.
“I wish that I was on Dynamite. I wish I was on Dynasty. I wish I was on these things,” Starks said in May. “I think at a certain point, just for my own sanity, I can’t go too crazy about it because the proof is in my work and my effort that I’ve constantly given. I’ve constantly given 1000 percent effort. At a certain point, it’s not in my control. I think that’s the biggest lesson I have. Things are just not in my control, but the things that are, I try the hardest.”
When asked about Starks’s status earlier this summer, AEW President Tony Khan also responded enthusiastically about working Starks back into AEW plans.
“I think Ricky Starks is tremendous. I’d love to get him involved and back in AEW anytime,” Khan said in June. “He’s been a huge part of what we’ve done here for about four out of the five years. Tons of respect for him.”
Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on Ricky Starks’s professional wrestling future.
