Ricky Starks has been the talk of the wrestling world this week as he was released from his AEW contract and shortly after he made his WWE debut when he appeared on this week’s episode of NXT.
The former AEW World Tag Team Champion seemingly made an impact with his big NXT debut, but it sounds like WWE originally had different plans regarding how they wanted to introduce Starks on television.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that even before he was released from All Elite Wrestling, WWE had plans for Ricky Starks to debut in NXT. The idea was that he would debut at a major NXT event later this year, but the company instead decided to speed the process up as soon as Starks became available.
The belief is that WWE will continue to use Ricky in NXT for the time being, and that he will continue to use his real name, Ricky Starks. At this point in time it’s not clear when Starks will be making his next televised appearance on WWE programming, but it’s worth noting that he was pulled from an independent event on Saturday, February 15th, which is the same day that the NXT Vengeance Day premium live event is set to take place.
Prior to his release from AEW, Starks last appearance for the company was during the March 30th, 2024 episode of Collision when he teamed up with Big Bill to face off against Top Flight. In recent months Ricky Starks has competed for companies such as House Of Glory and DEFY.
In addition to Ricky Starks, other names such as Malakai Black, Miro and Bear Boulder were also released from All Elite Wrestling. It appears that WWE is looking to sign a few more released AEW stars, and you can get more details on that here.