NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints has responded to the recent “Tony fumbled” chants.
Earlier tonight, during the Stand & Deliver 2025 PLE before WrestleMania 41, Ricky Saints collided with another former AEW star, Ethan Page. While the two had been engaged in a heated rivalry for the past few weeks, Saints was finally able to keep Page down and retain his gold.
However, long before his impressive match tonight, fans witnessed a segment between Saints and Page on the 15th April episode of NXT. As the show went off air, the crowd went livid with “Tony fumbled” chants, showing their disapproval of how Tony Khan failed to utilize Saints on the roster. Regarding this, Saints had been missing from AEW television for the majority of 2024, without any legitimate injury.
During an interview with Good Karma Wrestling ahead of his Stand & Deliver match, Saints recently opened up on the chants. Stating how he appreciates the support, he is not keen to put anyone down.
“My reaction is — it’s not about what happened in the past,” he said. “It’s about like, let’s focus on now and my work that I’m doing now. I appreciate the sentiment that they care about me and have opinions about the situation, but, you know, let’s not put somebody else down.”
H/t WON
Saints aka Starks joined NXT back in February after a controversial contract tenure with Tony Khan’s AEW. During his time at All Elite Wrestling, Saints was a one-time Tag Team Champion, FTW Champion, and Owen Hart Cup winner.
Ricky Saints WWE Name Change Explained
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Ricky Saints opened up on his name change and explained the details behind it.
“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.”
In other news: Josh Alexander has made his AEW debut.