Tony Khan has been asked about a former champion in AEW who has been notably absent for a number of months.
Last competing on the March 30th episode of Collision, former Tag Team Champion Ricky Starks has been absent ever since and has seen his partnership with Big Bill come to an end as Bill has since gone on to side with Chris Jericho.
While a rumour began to circulate that he might be injured, Ricky Starks responded that he was not dealing with any injuries and was waiting for the call to come back. While being interviewed by CBS Sports, Khan was asked about Starks and looked back on his time in the company so far:
“I really like Ricky Starks a lot. The last time we saw him here was in the World Tag Team Championship tournament. He and Big Bill formed a great team, and they were the World Tag Team Champions. They had a great run and it culminated in the last televised match of the legendary career of the Icon, Sting.
I think it’s a huge thing that their run, Ricky and Bill, that their run culminated in such an important match in Phoenix, defending the World Tag Team Championship against one of Ricky’s greatest rivals ever in AEW, Darby Allin. And somebody else, Sting, when you think back, was part of Sting’s first match back in pro wrestling in many, many years and that began a journey that went from Revolution ’21 to Revolution ’24, a three-year journey.”
Continuing, Khan added that he had a lot of respect for Starks and hoped that he would be back soon:
“We talked about five years of AEW. To me, the most special part might have been that three-year run of Sting. What we were able to do, give him what I think is the greatest sendoff in wrestling. Ricky was a huge part of that, Sting’s first match and last televised match, and Sting’s last title win.
These are all huge milestones and Ricky is a huge part of them. And that’s only scratching the surface of all the great things that Ricky’s done here and all of the great matches he’s had with so many opponents up and down the card since he arrived here. I think Ricky Starks is tremendous, I’d love to get him involved and back in AEW anytime. He’s been a huge part of what we’ve done here for about four out of the five years, and tons of respect for Rico.”
Tony Khan Looking At Expansion
Having increased its presence on weekly TV compared to when the media rights deal was originally signed, AEW now produces 3 shows each week with 5 hours of new content. Also in the interview, Tony Khan was asked if AEW would expand its TV line-up even further.
In other AEW news, NJPW has addressed the partnership between the two promotions.
H/t to WrestleZone.