Ricky Starks legitimately earned a contract with All Elite Wrestling after his TNT Championship match against Cody Rhodes on the June 17th episode of Dynamite.
The former NWA Television Champion gave it everything he had against the American Nightmare, and AEW President Tony Khan was left very impressed, taking to Twitter to announce that they had signed the blue-chip prospect.
Thank you @starkmanjones for a great effort tonight. While he didn’t win the open challenge & the TNT Title, he opened a lot of eyes on #AEWDynamite. Thank you @CodyRhodes & Arn for nominating a great challenger; I was glad to sanction the match. Now: congrats Ricky you earned it pic.twitter.com/K9dTVRlv1I
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 18, 2020
Khan would later be asked and go on to clarify that starts legitimately earned his contract after the match and wasn’t meant originally to sign with the company. Starks is already on the official roster page for AEW as well and according to a report by Dave Meltzer, already has a program in place and they’re looking to utilize him beyond just signing him.
I signed Ricky tonight. He earned it on #AEWDynamite. https://t.co/Xx0qoiOttk
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 18, 2020
After. Legitimately. His performance on #AEWDynamite really did seal the deal in my eyes and on paper and in reality.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 18, 2020
WrestleZone recently spoke with Ricky Starks about his decision to leave the NWA and enter the free agency pool, and he said the response he received after announcing his departure proved he made a good decision. Starks did make note that NWA offered him guaranteed money and 50% of his merchandise sales, but after a great amount of thought, came to the decision that it was time for him to enjoy taking a risk.
“I wanted to offer more than just signing a wrestler. You’re signing more than that,” he said. “Honestly man, these past few days and seeing what’s been posted, videos and all that, I think I made the best decision I’ve could’ve made.”
“It was very difficult, obviously, but looking at it now,” Starks added, “I’m glad I did it and I sit in that, proud that I did that. And who knows? We don’t know what happens next. Things can change at a whim.”
You can check out the full interview embedded below:
