Ricky Starks is the current FTW Champion in AEW. He’s a member of Team Taz along with Powerhouse Hobbs and has recently been locked into a feud with new AEW signees; Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland. The Championship gives Starks a level of prestige as he continues to rise through the ranks in AEW.
Starks sets his sights high and in an interview with Blake Oestriecher of Forbes, he discusses how he views himself, the possibility of being a main eventer and many other topics.
“Even before I was born, I think I was always meant to be a main eventer, in any situation, any company, any place anywhere in this world, I’m a main eventer, first and foremost…Within the AEW world, I’m definitely a main eventer. I’ve been doing it for 11 years and really had to maul my way through the independent scene, especially when I wasn’t a big name and when I wasn’t someone that everyone knew of.”
-Ricky Starks.
Expanding on his time on the independent scene, Ricky continues to acknowledge how hard he found it but insists that he never really felt like quitting.
“There wasn’t ever a moment where I thought about quitting because my thing is, like, man, you’ve come so far and you’ve slept on couches and you’ve slept in cars, and you’ve been homeless, you’ve been living paycheck to paycheck. Why give up now? And even then if you give up now, you’ve got to start over again.”
-Ricky Starks.
The FTW Champion then talks about certain reactions he got from the fans, particularly in his home town, and how he loves seeing new and old fans react to his performances.
“I’m beloved in any city that I go to… I try not to even indulge in the negative stuff and focus mainly on the positive. It’s cool to see that the new people who have never seen me before are just as impressed with it, [as] entertained by it as the OG fans. I went from watching my first live event in 2001 at the Smoothie King Arena to watching Undertaker vs John Cena at the SuperDome and then coming to the Lakefront Arena and wrestling in front of my hometown. On the indies, I felt that…I wasn’t getting these opportunities that other people were that I knew I was just as equipped for, if not better.”
-Ricky Starks.
Lastly, Starks talks about the ever changing and grows All Elite Wrestling Roster and how he feels about the variety of options available for him to wrestle. It can be concern for performers on such a large roster to find where they fit in to avoid being left off shows but Starks believes he has the ability to always rise to the occasion.
“I like the challenge because I think I can have chemistry with anybody I wrestle, so I think it’s cool to have such a big mix of talent that we have on our roster…I don’t concern myself with that [adding wrestlers] because the people that they bring in, those people can’t do exactly what I can. They don’t bring to the table exactly what Ricky Starks can bring to the table. We have so many talented men and women…and it’s about getting in where you can fit in. And so, it’s not always the best plan of action, but it’s the best plan that we have right now.”
-Ricky Starks.
Starks’ future is obviously very bright. He’s full of confidence and seems to be fully convinced that his place as a main eventer is there to be taken at some point, though he’s happy with his current role as he knows being on the show in any capacity is important.
