Ricky Starks Addresses His Absence From AEW Television

Recently, there has been a lot of talk online regarding Ricky Stark’s future, with him not being featured on AEW television since March. At one time, it was claimed online that this was due to Starks rejecting creative pitches, which made it hard for Tony Khan to utilize him. However, Starks would take to social media himself and deny this. And now, during a virtual signing with Highspots , he has confirmed he is healthy and ready to wrestle, but it isn’t up to him, seemingly implying that AEW management doesn’t want to use him.

“I wish I could give an answer. I’m healthy. I’m ready to get back in the ring. I am in shape. Obviously, I’ve always been in shape. Sometimes it just isn’t up to me, I guess, as they say. So I love wrestling, and I’m going to figure out a way to do it one way or another.

But, you know, I at least think I owe fans some type of explanation to the best of my ability, to the best of my knowledge. So some people don’t want to believe that. That’s fine. I don’t give a f*ck. But, yeah, I wish I had more of a definitive answer, but sometimes darkness is your only friend when you’re definitely trying to find the light.”

34-year-old Starks signed with AEW back in 2020 after impressing during a tryout match against Cody Rhodes on Dynamite. From there, he became close friends with the former AEW EVP, leading some fans to suspect that his long-term future would be in WWE after Rhodes swapped promotions. Yet, as Starks hasn’t publicly expressed a desire to depart AEW himself, that remains unconfirmed, although the fact that he was at WrestleMania XL to watch Rhodes win the WWE Championship could end up being notable in hindsight.