Wikipedia

Ricky Starks

American professional wrestler

Richard Starks (born February 21, 1990) is an American professional wrestler. He currently wrestles for WWE on their NXT brand and competes under the ring name Ricky Saints. He is the current NXT North American Champion in his first reign. He is also known for his time wrestling in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Ricky Starks.

Ricky Starks
Starks during his time as FTW Champion
Born (1990-02-21) February 21, 1990 (age 35)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ricky Saints
Ricky Starks
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight194 lb (88 kg)
Billed fromNew Orleans, Louisiana
Debut2011

During his time in AEW, Starks was the winner of the 2023 Owen Hart Cup and a one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion. He also was a former one-time FTW Champion, however the championship was unsanctioned which means that AEW did not officially recognize it or Starks' reign.

Career

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All Elite Wrestling

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On the June 17, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Starks made both his surprise AEW debut and his AEW in-ring debut. He answered Cody's AEW TNT Championship open challenge but was defeated.[1] Afterwards, it was announced by AEW owner Tony Khan that Starks signed a contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW).[2] On the July 21 episode of Dark, Starks defeated Griff Garrison and got his first win as a member of the AEW roster.[3]

Starks then joined Team Taz with Taz and Brian Cage.[4] Will Hobbs joined later after attacking Cody and Darby Allin after their match. At Winter Is Coming, Starks teamed with Hobbs against Cody and Allin but lost. They then attacked Cody and Allin after the match but the debuting Sting made the save.[5]

On Night 1 of Fyter Fest, Hobbs hit Brian Cage with Cage's FTW Championship and kicked him out of the group. Starks pinned Cage to become the new FTW World Champion. This was Stark's first championship in AEW.[6] However, the championship was unsanctioned and not officially recognized by AEW. At Fight for the Fallen, Starks issued an open challenge for the FTW Championship, which was answered by Danhausen. After Starks beat Danhausen, Hook came out and answered the challenge, where Starks lost the title to Hook. Afterwards, Starks cut a promo after and turned face after getting attacked by his tag partner Hobbs.[7]

On the December 7 episode of Dynamite, Starks won the Dynamite Diamond Ring after eliminating Ethan Page last in the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale.[8] Starks challenged AEW World Champion MJF to a match at Winter Is Coming. Starks put up his Dynamite Diamond Ring and MJF put up his world championship in a Winner Takes All match. At Winter is Coming, Starks lost the match and his ring.[9]

In 2023, Starks decided to enter the Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament. He made it to the finals, defeating Juice Robinson and Powerhouse Hobbs in the first two rounds. On July 15 episode of Collision, he defeated CM Punk to win the Owen Hart Cup.[10]

On the October 7 episode of Collision, Starks teamed with Big Bill. The two defeated FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and won the AEW World Tag Team Championships.[11] On the February 7, 2024 episode of Dynamite, Starks and Big Bill lost the championships to Sting and Darby Allin.[12]

On February 11, 2025, Starks's profile was removed from AEW's website and he was released from the company.[13]

WWE

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Starks made his WWE debut on the February 11, 2025 episode of NXT.[14] The following week, his new ring name was announced to be Ricky Saints.[15] On the April 1 episode of NXT, Saints defeated Shawn Spears to win the NXT North American Championship for the first time.[16]

Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  1. ↑ "AEW Dynamite 6/17/20 Results: 2 Title Matches, Ricky Starks Debuts & Orange Cassidy Attacks". Fightful. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Tony Khan Reveals That He Legitimately Decided To Sign Ricky Starks After His Match With Cody". WrestleZone. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  3. ↑ "AEW Dark 6/30/20 Results: The Young Bucks, Allie, Brandi Rhodes, Lance Archer & More In Action". Fightful. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  4. ↑ "AEW Dark 7/21/20 Results: Hikaru Shida, Best Friends, Scorpio Sky, Darby Allin & More In Action!". Fightful. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ "2/02 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship, Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal, Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian, Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks, Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "7/14 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Fyter Fest Night One with Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin in a Coffin Match, Jon Moxley vs. Karl Anderson for the IWGP U.S. Title, Brian Cage vs. Ricky Starks for the FTW Title, Matt Hardy vs. Christian". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  7. ↑ "7/27 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Rush for the Interim AEW World Championship, Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita for the AEW Women's Championship, Ricky Starks vs. Danhausen for the FTW Title, Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara vs. Dante Martin". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  8. ↑ "11/23 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Death Triangle vs. The Elite in the second match of the best of seven series for the AEW Trios Titles, Chris Jericho vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the ROH Title, Ethan Page vs. Ricky Starks in the eliminator tournament final, Orange Cassidy vs. Jake Hager for the AEW All-Atlantic Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  9. ↑ "12/14 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Ricky Starks for the AEW World Championship, "Death Triangle" Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix vs. "The Elite" Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson in the fourth match of a Best of Seven series for the AEW Trios Titles, Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo, House of Black and Chris Jericho in action". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  10. ↑ "AEW Collision (7/15/2023) Results: CM Punk vs Ricky Starks, AEW Tag Title Bout, Soho vs Willow". Fightful. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "AEW Collision results (10/7): Moore's live review of Adam Copeland first appearance, FTR vs. Ricky Starks and Big Bill for the AEW Tag Titles, Eddie Kingston vs. Komander for the ROH Title". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  12. ↑ "AEW Dynamite results (2/7): Powell's live review of Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page for a shot at the AEW Title at Revolution, Ricky Starks and Big Bill vs. Darby Allin and Sting for the AEW Tag Titles". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Miro and Ricky Starks released from AEW". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  14. ↑ "WWE NXT live results: Vengeance Day go-home show". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  15. ↑ Elizabeth, Claire (2025-02-18). "NXT live blog: Ricky Starks signs". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Porter, Lovell (2025-04-01). "WWE NXT Results: Review, Grades, Card For April 1". Wrestlezone. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  17. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 23, 2022). "AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament (2022)". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  18. ↑ Rose, Bryan (December 7, 2022). "Ricky Starks wins AEW Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  19. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (July 15, 2023). "Ricky Starks Wins Men's 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament". Fightful. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  21. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  22. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  23. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  24. ↑ "Pro Wrestling 2022 awards: The best male and female wrestler, feud, faction, promo and more". ESPN. December 28, 2022. Archived from the original on December 31, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  26. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  27. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  28. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 8, 2020). "NWA World Television Title Tournament". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  31. ↑ "Jon Moxley Tops 2020 PWI 500 List, Top 100 Revealed •". 27 August 2020. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  32. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  33. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  34. ↑ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.

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