AEW has a lot of talent under contract, which is a main criticism among fans for not being able to use everyone despite having several hours of weekly television.
One star that fans want to see is Ricky Starks, who has been away from AEW television for a few months, causing fans to speculate about his future. Starks was last seen in action on the March 30 episode of AEW Collision. This is where he had an injury scare that led to Top Flight going over in the bout originally planned for Starks and Big Bill to win. Starks said he is not injured and has no answers regarding why AEW has not used him. AEW President Tony Khan has noted he would love to have Starks back.
Fightful Select reports they reached out to sources in AEW following a post on Reddit about Starks’ status, who claim that Starks turning down pitches to be on screen is accurate to some degree, while another source claimed that breaking up with Big Bill and feuding was the only pitch he turned down in the last several months.
It was said that Fightful “can’t speak to the claim that he wasn’t even listening to pitches, as that wasn’t broached or answered by any source we spoke with.” People in AEW have criticized Starks for not wanting to do business, while those involved in the storyline hoped it would give Bill a launching pad to be a big heel and Starsk a babyface.
It was said that Starks didn’t think Big Bill losing a feud with him would benefit Bill. Instead, he wanted them to have an amicable split if anything. Fightful was told that when Starks wasn’t booked at All In last year, there was a concern about fan reaction, and they did the suspension storyline. At that time, Starks wasn’t in favor of being on a tag team and didn’t like the lack of follow-up to his match with Bryan Danielson. Starks felt like the end of last summer was a big turning point in how he was booked, and his momentum was slowed following CM Punk’s departure.
Those in AEW have conflicting information about the contact between Starks and Khan. It was said, “Internally, regarding nearly everything Starks related, there seems to be conflicting information based on who you speak with. We’ve not heard that there are imminent creative plans, which could change at any point.”
People in AEW believe that Starks wants to go to WWE, which is something widely speculated about. However, it’s unclear what his contract status is at this time. Fightful added that Stark’s AEW status is one of the more conflicting stories they’ve covered regarding information and each source’s personal stance.
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