Since September 2021, fans have made a great deal about AEW’s “four pillars.” Current AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman took to the microphone over a year ago to spotlight four homegrown stars that he envisions as the men that will carry the company for the next decade: himself, “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin. These four men are considered AEW originals, as they have all been on Tony Khan’s books since the promotion’s initial batch of pay-per-views in 2019. While only a few can claim to being a true day one talent, AEW has since added a number of independent standouts who have made names for themselves on the company’s global stage.
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The most prominent among those is Ricky Starks, who joined the company in Summer 2020. The Absolute One debuted by challenging Cody Rhodes for the AEW TNT Championship, and despite losing, Starks impressed enough to earn himself an AEW contract. Today, Starks finds himself at the top of the card, as he recently headlined AEW’s biggest televised special of the year, AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming.
Speaking to ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, Starks noted that he’s flattered to be called a “fifth pillar,” but he prefers to not be associated with that label.
“It’s very nice that some people actually think of me as a fifth pillar,” Starks said. “But as I always say, I’d rather not be considered a pillar at all. I’m in a league of my own.”
Starks explained that his distaste for the pillars label is due to its origins.
“The pillars talk is funny because if you ever realize it, it was manufactured,” Starks continued. “It was manufactured by Max. To me, it’s like a weird delusion of grandeur type thing that I don’t necessarily care for.”
Regardless of labels, Starks does see the “four pillars” as a sample of who will be at the top of AEW for the years to come, along with a number of newer names that have wowed since joining AEW.
“Definitely Darby. Definitely Jungle Boy. Sammy, if he can keep his body right. All the pillars I definitely see being up there,” Starks said. “In addition to that, Ethan Page. I can see [Daniel] Garcia up there.”
Page has been with AEW since March 2021, most notably working with Scorpio Sky and American Top Team. All Ego has since moved on to The Firm, aligning with Stokely Hathaway en route to a singles tear in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament. He reached the finals of that bracket but was defeated by Starks in the last match.
As for Garcia, he initially debuted with AEW in September 2020, wrestling on AEW Dark. He would compete in big matches on a freelance basis over the next year, including a main event contest against Jon Moxley on AEW Rampage: The First Dance. Garcia eventually inked an AEW contract in October 2021 and made his biggest splash when he joined the Jericho Appreciation Society. During his time with that faction, Garcia has headlined AEW Dynamite on a number of occasions, wrestling Bryan Danielson in multiple critically-acclaimed bouts.
Starks is now entering another high-profile feud, this time standing opposite Chris Jericho. On Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, Starks declined to join the Jericho Appreciation Society, leading to Jake Hager attacking him from behind. Starks has challenged Jericho to a singles match on the January 4th edition of AEW Dynamite, but The Ocho did not answer. It’s possible that that singles contest will be changed to a tag match, with Starks teaming with Action Andretti while Jericho tags with someone from the Jericho Appreciation Society.
