Ricky Starks is putting friendships first and doesn’t care who has an issue with it.
Starks was spotted backstage at the 2023 Royal Rumble as part of Cody Rhodes’ entourage, and it caused a bit of uproar on social media. Tribalism in wrestling has been a hot topic in recent years, but Starks says he was there for Cody and that’s what matters.
Speaking to Stephanie Chase, Ricky Starks said Rhodes has been there for him throughout his career. He doesn’t care who thinks his being at a WWE event was a bad look because his friendships come first.
“That’s important to me because that’s my friend. That’s a guy who helped me out through a neck injury, a guy who helped me throughout my career, even before AEW. Even before AEW, when I was an extra at SmackDown,” Starks explained, “this guy talked to me and gave me advice when he didn’t have to. When I was on the indies, I ran into him. That is what’s important.
“I don’t give a shit — and I want everyone who is watching this to do this verbatim — I don’t give a shit if there’s some tribalism from the fans. I don’t care if someone from my company or someone over there thinks it’s a bad look. I don’t give a fuck. That is my friend,” Starks stated. “One thing about me is I am genuinely going to be a friend no matter what. If you ride for me, I’m going to ride for you.”
“So it was important to me that I go there and see a guy who is ultimately on the biggest [run of his career]. It was important for me to be there. It’s the same damn thing to come and support me that way. I had no — because everyone wants to know about this, and like I said, I don’t care about tribalism from the fans, people I work with or over there. It was important for me to go and support my friend on one of the biggest nights of his life because that’s what friends do. If there’s one thing about me, is that I’m a genuine, down-ass person that will ride for my friends. And nobody will question me for that. I refuse to let anybody question me or try to give me any type of pushback on it. I’m a grown-ass person, I can do that.”
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