Ricky Starks

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Ricky Starks
WMC AEWSTARKS-CHAMP.jpg
Starks as the FTW Champion in 2021
Birth nameRichard Starks
Born (1990-02-21) February 21, 1990 (age 31)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
ResidenceAustin, Texas, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ricky Starks[2]
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Billed weight195 lb (88 kg)[1]
Billed fromNew Orleans, Louisiana[2]
Debut2011

Richard Starks (born February 21, 1990),[3] is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current FTW World Champion in his first reign. He also serves on the commentary team for AEW's Friday night program, Rampage. Starks is also known for his time with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he was the inaugural winner of the revived NWA World Television Championship.

Professional wrestling career[]

Early career (2012–2019)[]

Starks idolized wrestlers including The Undertaker, The Rock, and Mankind, among many others, while growing up watching professional wrestling. Around the age of seven, Starks decided he would pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Starks made his debut in WWE as enhancement talent, jobbing to Jinder Mahal, before debuting for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Velocity Pro Wrestling on October 14, 2012 at the NWA Velocity Haunted Havoc event in Austin, Texas. There, he wrestled in a triple threat match against Jaykus Plisken and Big Ricky. Since 2012, Starks became a regular talent featured across numerous promotions in the state of Texas, like Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Inspire Pro Wrestling.

During the following years, he would have four other matches for WWE as an enhancement talent, losing against wrestlers like Jinder Mahal, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, Kane and The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). On the July 29, 2013 episode of Raw, he appeared in a backstage video where he was bullied, mocked, and slammed through a table by Ryback.[4][5][6][7] Starks again made an appearance on the March 19, 2018 episode of Raw as a US Marshal, arresting Roman Reigns, only for Starks to be attacked by Reigns.

National Wrestling Alliance (2018–2020)[]

Starks made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) at the NWA 70th Anniversary Show on October 21, 2018, competing in a four-way elimination match against Jay Bradley, Mike Parrow and Willie Mack, which Mack won.[8] He returned on the October 15, 2019 episode of Power, defeating Trevor Murdoch.[9] At the Into the Fire pay-per-view event on December 14, Starks competed in a three-way match against Colt Cabana and Aron Stevens for the NWA National Championship, a match which Stevens won.[10] Soon after, Starks was entered into a tournament to determine the inaugural holder of the NWA World Television Championship.[11] At the Hard Times event on January 24, 2020, he defeated Eddie Kingston in the first round, Matt Cross in the second round, Tim Storm in the semi-finals and Trevor Murdoch in the finals to become the new NWA World Television Champion.[12] Starks lost the title to Zicky Dice on the March 3 episode of Power.[13] On May 18, it was announced that Starks was no longer with the NWA as his contract had expired.[14]

All Elite Wrestling (2020–present)[]

On the June 17 episode of Dynamite, Starks made his unannounced debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as he answered Cody's open challenge for the AEW TNT Championship in a losing effort.[15] After the match, All Elite Wrestling's CEO Tony Khan announced that Starks had signed with AEW.[16] On the June 30 episode of Dark, Starks picked up his first victory in AEW by defeating Griff Garrison while quickly establishing himself as a heel.[17] On the July 21 episode of Dark, after defeating Will Hobbs, Starks aided Brian Cage in attacking Robert Anthony and Darby Allin after their match, creating an alliance between the two.[18] The team, managed by Taz and now known as Team Taz, began feuding with Allin as they faced Allin and Jon Moxley on the July 29 episode of Dynamite where they were defeated.[19] At the All Out pay-per-view on September 5, Starks participated in the Casino Battle Royale, but he was eliminated by Allin.[20] On the September 30 episode of Dynamite, Starks was defeated by Allin in a singles match.[21]

On the November 18, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Will Hobbs would join Starks, Taz, and Cage's alliance after he struck Cody with Cage's FTW Championship belt and then assisted them in attacking both Allin and Cody as well.[22] On the December 2, 2020 special Winter Is Coming, Starks and Hobbs, the latter now known as Powerhouse Hobbs, would lose a tag team match to Cody and Allin, after which, Sting made his AEW debut and ran Team Taz off after a post-match attack.[23] On the January 20 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that Starks and Brian Cage would be facing Allin and Sting in a street fight at Revolution, which was a cinematic match that Starks and Cage lost.[24] On July 14, 2021, on night one of Fyter Fest, Starks won the FTW World Championship from Brian Cage, winning his first championship in AEW, although the FTW title is not an officially sanctioned championship in AEW.[25] On an episode of Rampage, Starks defeated Cage in a Philly street fight.

In September 2021, in addition to still being a wrestler on the show, Starks joined the Rampage commentary team, replacing Mark Henry.[26]

Professional wrestling style and persona[]

Starks referred to his style as a "pastiche" of other wrestlers, most notably The Undertaker's selling and Shinjiro Otani.[27]

Championships and accomplishments[]

  • All Elite Wrestling
  • Anarchy Championship Wrestling
    • ACW Hardcore Championship (1 time)[28]
    • ACW Televised Championship (1 time)[29]
    • ACW Unified Championship (1 time)[30]
  • Dojo Pro Wrestling
    • Dojo Pro White Belt Championship (1 time)[31]
  • Imperial Wrestling Revolution
    • IWR Revolutionary Championship (1 time)[32]
  • Inspire Pro Wrestling
    • Inspire Pro Championship (1 time)[33]
    • Inspire Pro Junior Championship (1 time)[34]
    • Inspire Pro Pure Prestige Championship (1 time)[35]
  • National Wrestling Alliance
  • NWA Houston
    • NWA Lone Star Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[37]
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • Ranked No. 92 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020[38]
  • VIP Wrestling
    • VIP Tag Team Championships (1 time) - with Carson[39]
    • VIP Tag Team Championship Tournament (2015)
  • WrestleCircus
    • WC Big Top Tag Team Championships (1 time) - with Aaron Solow[40]
  • Xtreme Championship Wrestling
    • XCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)[41]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Title not officially sanctioned by AEW.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Profile of Ricky Starks". Cagematch. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Ricky Starks". Dojo Pro. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "Ricky Starks". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  4. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  5. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  6. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  7. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  8. ^ Powell, Jason (21 October 2018). "Powell's NWA 70th Anniversary live review: Cody vs. Nick Aldis in a best of three falls match for the NWA Championship, new NWA National Champion crowned, Jazz vs. Penelope Ford for the NWA Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  9. ^ "Resultados NWA Powerrr 15 de octubre de 2019". solowrestling.mundodeportivo.com. October 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Powell, Jason (December 14, 2019). "NWA Into The Fire results: Powell's live review of Nick Aldis vs James Storm in a best of three falls match for the NWA Championship, Rock & Roll Express vs. Wild Cards for the NWA Tag Titles, Colt Cabana vs. Aron Stevens vs. Ricky Starks for the NWA National Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  11. ^ Pire, Anthony (December 23, 2019). "TV TITLE TOURNAMENT KICKS OFF: NWA POWERRR TV REPORT".
  12. ^ a b Powell, Jason (January 24, 2020). "NWA Hard Times results: Powell's live review of the NWA TV Title tournament, Nick Aldis vs. Flip Gordon, Aron Stevens vs. Scott Steiner for the NWA National Title, Allysin Kay vs. Thunder Rosa for the NWA Women's Title, NWA Tag Title Triple Threat". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  13. ^ "Resultados NWA Powerrr 3 de marzo de 2020". solowrestling.mundodeportivo.com. March 4, 2020.
  14. ^ "Ricky Starks termina su contrato con NWA y pasa a ser agente libre". Solowrestling. 18 May 2020.
  15. ^ "COMPLETE AEW DYNAMITE BLOG | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
  16. ^ "Ricky Starks is All Elite". June 17, 2020.
  17. ^ "AEW Dark 6/30/20 Results: The Young Bucks, Allie, Brandi Rhodes, Lance Archer & More In Action". Fightful.
  18. ^ "Ricky Starks Aligns with Brian Cage and Taz on AEW DARK". lastwordonprowrestling.com. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  19. ^ "AEW Dynamite 7/29/20 Results: 2 Title Matches, No DQ Tornado Tag Match & Several Debuts". Fightful.
  20. ^ "2020 AEW All Out results, recap, grades: Title matches stand out amid largely disappointing effort". CBSSports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  21. ^ AEW Staff (October 1, 2020). "AEW Dynamite Results for September 30, 2020". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  22. ^ Jeremy Thomas (November 18, 2020). "AEW News: Will Hobbs Joins Team Taz, Dynamite Post-Show Online". 411 Mania.
  23. ^ Konuwa, Alfred (December 2, 2020). "AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, News And Notes On December 2, 2020". Forbes. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  24. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (January 21, 2021). "Here we go! It's 'The Machine' Brian Cage (@MrGMSI_BCage) & Ricky Starks (@starkmanjones) of #TeamTaz vs. @Sting & the TNT Champion @DarbyAllin in a STREET FIGHT!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ a b Colin Tessier (July 14, 2021). "Team Taz Betrays Brian Cage, Ricky Starks Wins FTW Championship At AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 1". WrestleZone.com. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  26. ^ Lovell, Blake (September 20, 2021). "Ricky Starks Permanently Replacing Mark Henry On AEW Rampage Commentary". 411mania. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  27. ^ "Ricky Starks Calls His In-Ring Style a Pastiche of Other Wrestlers, Names Undertaker as an Influence | Fightful News".
  28. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  29. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  30. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  31. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  32. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  33. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  34. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  35. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  36. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 8, 2020). "NWA World Television Title Tournament". Cagematch.net.
  37. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  38. ^ "Jon Moxley Tops 2020 PWI 500 List, Top 100 Revealed •".
  39. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  40. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  41. ^ "Match info". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2020-06-23.

External links[]

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