Ricky Starks is gearing up for a huge title opportunity this week.
Tomorrow night on “AEW Dynamite,” the former FTW Champion looks to level up to the AEW World Championship, challenging MJF for the title. Last week, Starks picked up a huge win, outlasting all his competitors in the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royal to earn the corresponding title opportunity. Though he’s grateful for the opportunity ahead of him, Starks also wishes he had the opportunity to wrestle a former AEW World Champion as well.
Upon his return to professional wrestling, CM Punk mentioned Ricky Starks in a few promos, which caused speculation of a potential match between the two. Evidently, that match never came saw the light of day, as Starks later transitioned into a babyface role. Regardless, Punk’s namedrop of Starks still continued to raise his stock. “I definitely think the Punk thing helped,” Starks told DAZN Wrestling.
“Him saying those things about me really helped. I think it would’ve been great was to actually have a match with him. Things were kind of leading up to that, I thought. I think that’s one of the minor things that I’m actually annoyed about is that I never got to have a match. It’s not to stroke my own ego, but it’s about iron sharpening iron. I’m definitely a type of person that would be able to benefit from that in terms of just excelling in my talent.”
Starks continued, nothing that CM Punk and another AEW talent served as “great additions with what they provided” to the company. “I know personally I was able to talk with Punk a lot and get help on my promos and things like that. Same with [William] Regal. I’ve known Regal for so long.”
“I am hopeful that down the line I do get that matchup [with CM Punk]. If not, then I get it. That’s how the business is. But it would be nice. It would be nice to be able to work with somebody of that caliber because besides Sting, I’ve yet to work with someone of such a high caliber.”
While CM Punk is still reportedly under contract AEW, he is also reportedly ready to move on from the company, following the events of AEW’s infamous “Brawl Out.”
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