Ricky Starks has quickly risen to the forefront of All Elite Wrestling, and the former NWA World Television Champion recently looked back on his ascendance during an appearance on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast.
Nowadays, Starks regularly works with icons like Taz and Sting, and he admitted that even at the beginning of 2021, he never thought he’d be involved in this high-profile storyline.
“I wouldn’t have called this at the start of this year, even if you would have given me a million dollars,” said Starks. “This is something that, obviously I’m prepared for, but it’s not something that I had in mind when I was preparing. I went from being in NWA and doing the studio setting, to going to wrestling Cody Rhodes for the TNT title with nobody, with no fans in attendance, to somehow earning my way to a job and now here we are, a week away basically, from a huge Street Fight match on AEW Revolution.”
“It’s insane, man.”
Starks shared his mindset around his weekly association with Taz, and his subsequent rivalry with Sting, and he stated that he doesn’t view the alliance like an excited fan. Instead, he views it as a perfectly normal situation.
“My brother and I used to watch Taz all the time, such a badass, especially when ECW came on TNN, and we’d wait up on Fridays for it,” said Starks. “It’s pretty insane to think about, especially when you’re back there and he’s giving you tips on your match, your promo, stuff like that, the business side of things, too, I don’t necessarily look at it from the viewpoint of when I was younger, I’d be like, ‘Yo, this is crazy.’ I somehow have normalized it.
“I see Sting, I’ve normalized it. It’s bad in a way because I do want to feel that old, that young me, but it’s been great. It’s been so beneficial to me as a performer, as a business man. I really wouldn’t change it for the world.”
The Team Taz standout also offered his stance on how his old-school values as a wrestler don’t always line up with some of the traditional ways of thinking within the business. He emphasized that he tries to work with his peers rather than worrying that they’ll take his spot.
“I still follow the old philosophies and the ideologies of the past,” said Starks. “But there’s some other stuff that I don’t necessarily agree with. I don’t necessarily agree with that everybody is out to get your spot and that you have this paranoia about it. Here’s my thing. Nobody can take my spot because I’m too damn good in my own head. No one can ever bury me, no one can ever make me look bad because I’m in control. I’m always gonna be in control. And if I have that mindset and I think that, then when I approach other wrestlers and I work with other wrestlers, I’m not coming from a place of like oh you’re a snake, I need to be careful. Things like that I don’t necessarily agree with.
The full interview is available here:
RELATED: Ricky Starks Says Comparisons To The Rock Won’t Last Forever, But He’s Fine With It Now
