Ricky Starks Talks AEW Dynamite Match, Partnership With Taz And Brian Cage | Exclusive
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for Ricky Starks, who was wrestling a broom on Twitter in March. Three months later, Starks found himself on AEW Dynamite answering Cody’s open challenge for the AEW TNT Championship.
After his impressive showing against Cody, Tony Khan offered him an AEW contract. On Wednesday, Starks will team with Brian Cage against Darby Allin & AEW World Champion Jon Moxley.
“To me, it’s not crazy at all. To me, this is just normal,” Starks told Fightful in an exclusive interview. “I honestly feel like I belong in the ring with people like Moxley, Darby, Cody, Kenny. I belong there. When I sit down and think about it, it just feels right. It feels right, like getting into a car, turning it on, and having cold AC. That’s how it should be. This is no different than when I went out with Cody, I wasn’t really nervous. This is what I’ve worked hard for my entire life and I deserve it. Being in the ring and showing people I can hang with Moxley, that’s a normal thing.”
Starks has aligned himself with Taz and Cage on television, forming a formidable trio that is out to hurt people, as evident by Starks nearly decapitating Darby Allin from behind last Wednesday. Starks’ attack and Moxley’s subsequent save helped set-up the tornado tag match on Wednesday.
“Some people like seeing that,” Starks said about his hard hit on Allin. “Me, personally, I thought it was kinda cool because I trucked the soul out of Darby, bent down, and pulled him back to reality. It shows you that I have some type of compassion for my fellow man.”
Taz left the commentary booth and took a managerial position at Double or Nothing when he introduced Cage as his new client. Now, Starks has joined the mix thanks to Taz’ eye for talent.
“Nothing was really pitched to me, it was more of Taz recruiting me. After the match with Cody, Taz took a liking because it was something different and he can appreciate someone with more tenacity than most people have. I bring that to the table and that’s what made me a standout. I’ve known Cage for a while and I think he’s great. We have good chemistry that you wouldn’t think works initially, but look at me, I think I get along with anybody. If I don’t like you then I’m not gonna get along with you,” he said. “Somethings in life, you don’t know if a combination is going to work or not. I’m sure there are people who thought chocolate and peanut butter wasn’t going to be a very good combo and look where we’re at. It’s been great working with them, they are great business-minded people who really get it and they recognize real. Real recognize real. This is the best pairing in wrestling.”
Starks described the team as an MMA team building a squad of killers. Though Starks and Cage don’t have an official name, the trio has been referred to as Team Taz.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
You can watch the full interview with Ricky Starks in the video above.
