Ricky *SPOILER* talks new name, AEW departure

[Chris]

On new name:

“It’s as close as you’re going to get to Starks. I like the name. I know a lot of people are going to be…it’s going to take time for them to get used to it. I respect that they care so deeply about me that they rebel against the name change. But at the same time, I am a product of New Orleans, first and foremost, and I want to pay respect to that as well. I think this is the best of both worlds and that means a lot to me. Obviously I think it’s cool to have a piece of home with me. And the person doesn’t change. I’m still that guy, so it is what it is.”

On where things went wrong in AEW:

“I don’t know the specifics of what it was. Some people, you ask the internet, it was because you were at the Rumble. Screw you. The footage got leaked from me being at the Rumble. I wasn’t backstage…I left after the first match. Some could say well, you were at Mania in a suite and you got on camera cheering. Screw you. You’re an idiot with no friends and no passion in life if you think the damndest thing I’ve done is cheering somebody on in another company…my boss was okay with it.”

“I can’t tell you exactly what the moment was. You could say it was Punk leaving and things kinda fell apart. Absolutely, I probably agree with you on that, alright? Or you could say is that Ricky didn’t play the politics well enough. Alright, for sure…there’s so many things you can say,” he continued. “What I can say for myself is that when I got hurt in March, that was it, I never came back. And even then, I wasn’t hurt, it was a precaution thing where I got scared as I had a stinger. Then I was fine. After that, no, no dice, no communication. No nothing. And that is okay because….I ended up here. And it’s fine. Everything worked out. I don’t know explicitly where it went wrong, I can’t point to one thing. I can say it was a storm of things probably. Did I do something that may have tipped them off? Sure, asking for my release whenever you know, this past whatever, that could have been about it right? But never once was I not willing to do something, never once was I sabotaging anything.”

“I will say this, there are some people who stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn’t have happened. Veterans. And that’s it, I’ll leave it at that. And if they got a problem with me, they got my number. And text me about it. I think what it was is if it didn’t work for their creative, then someone had to get the boot. That’s how I see it. But I’m not trying to be negative in my thought process about it…if you want to step on me to get ahead in your illustrious career, everyone has an illustrious career. Everyone should have an illustrious career. That is perfectly fine. But at the same time, I’m not wet behind my ears.”

 

[Chris]

I think he got the best of both worlds with the name change shockingly. It's fine, something he likes, very close to his old name, and he kept every other nickname and aspect of the persona.

So he can let WWE market that without giving them any rights to his real name and if he leaves, he's really not hurt at all by having to go back to Ricky Starks. It's very similar to how Swerve had to change his name but still kept "Swerve" so he wasn't really affected by going back to his old name.

The veterans comments are very interesting, I wasn't expecting him to say anything like that, I was expecting the usual slamming for poor communication and not being told why he wasn't used kind of thing. Very diplomatic even when calling them out tho lol basically like "they politicked better than me, I get it, oh well" And he really doesn't wanna talk bad about Tony it sounds like even when people lead him into it. This dude is smart, he isn't burning any bridges if he can help it

Obvious candidates are Cope bc of that one segment, Jericho for being Jericho (they did have a feud at one point), and then I guess a smaller chance of like Danielson and Sting bc they were on retirement tours and also faced Ricky before he left? We'll probably never know and there's a chance its someone completely random he's referring too tho.

 

[OsBlaze]

Decent interview and decent comments from him. Like Chris said, being smart not to really burn bridges by not saying anything negative about Tony, hell maybe it’s not even to not burn bridges, maybe he doesn’t really have much of an issue. We probably won’t ever really know.

I’ll pretend like the Saints part of his name has nothing to do with New Orleans

 

[Chris]

I mean regardless of anyone else he thinks may have "meddled" I think it would be silly not to put the blame on Tony for why he was on ice for 9 months. So I'm sure he has some feelings he's not saying but it might just be bc he also just thinks he's in a better spot and isn't a naturally bitter person like some people so forgive and forget lol

 

[Professor Booty]

seems like a solid ass dude tbh

 

[Cwalker]

Yeah I give him a lot of credit. He voiced his frustration in a professional manner and didn’t burn it down like some people would have if they were in his shoes

 

[Professor Booty]

for some reason I don't think Rusev's will go quite so well

 

[Lady Redfield]

His post is so cringe.

Anyway, I do think it’s cool his last name pays homage to his hometown.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

It's cool it's saints as homage and being savvy enough to not let WWE have his real name. Thought his real name was Starkman Jones or am I missing something ( as usual lol)