CM Punk Created Popular AEW Tag Team
It seems one successful AEW tag team had CM Punk to thank for putting them together in the first place.
CM Punk was fired by AEW following his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In 2023. Punk’s time in the company was plagued by backstage issues and injuries but it seems he was still able to do some good for at least two AEW stars.
Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Big Bill revealed that it was CM Punk who pitched to have him ditch his short-lived team with Brian Cage and partner up with Ricky Starks:
That was Punk. So I was teaming with Brian Cage, we had some really cool matches. We were coming up with ideas for entrances and team names, I even went to Tony with a bunch of team names and stuff. In my mind, I thought this is where we are going forward, and I’m all in on it, this is cool, two big guys.
So then Punk pulled me aside and said, ‘Well, I have this idea for you and Ricky.’ And I was like, wow. I’ve always liked Ricky. In NXT I bieled him outside the ring, and he took a bump on the ramp, which I thought I killed him. I didn’t think he was going to do it and he did it. I’ve always liked Ricky ever since then. Me and him trained with The Undertaker to get him ready for WrestleMania New Orleans.
So I know Ricky and he’s charismatic, and I’m charismatic, I was like yeah, this could work too. But again, you hear things you don’t know. So I was like, oh, it’s either me and Brian Cage are gonna do this today, or me and Ricky, either is gonna be awesome.
CM Punk’s Team Won AEW Tag Team Gold
Big Bill and Ricky Starks reached the top of the tag team division when they captured the AEW Tag Team Championship in October 2023, something that came as a big surprise to Bill:
Then they put me with Ricky and I was like okay, now I’m all in on this. Then we did a bunch of stuff together and then finally they put us in a tag title match with FTR, which I came to work that day just thinking we’ll have a good match with FTR, because who doesn’t? It’ll be a good match, and that’ll be it. And then they told us you’re beating FTR in like three minutes. And I was like, what the f*ck?!
I still have the title in my living room, because I had never won a title with WWE, because people always thought me and Enzo when I told people that that night, they were like, oh, no, you don’t remember you and Enzo won. No, we never won anything, dude, I’m telling you. So, yeah. So that happened out of nowhere, that was awesome, dude.
Starks and Bill last teamed in March 2024 before Big Bill joined Chris Jericho in The Learning Tree while Ricky Starks remains absent from AEW TV as questions about his future continue to linger.