Ricky Starks Lays Down Challenge To NJPW Star

Ricky Starks is set to challenge for championship gold.

It’s been a strange year for Ricky Starks who still hasn’t appeared for AEW since March. While the man himself has been at pains to tell fans he’s fit and able to wrestle and hasn’t turned down any creative pitches, his absence remains a mystery.

In recent months, Starks made his GCW debut, only to be pulled from the event after Effy made a series of disparaging comments about Tony Khan. Chris Jericho has since denied that AEW and GCW are back on the same page after he made a surprise appearance to attack Matt Cardona.

All of this means that Starks has wrestled just eight times in 2024, with only five of those matches coming in AEW. However, he appears determined to keep busy in 2025.

Ricky Starks Makes Surprise Appearance

At Defy’s Blueprint event on December 29th, KENTA successfully defended the Defy World Championship against Schaff. However, he wasn’t allowed much time to celebrate. After the final bell, the champion was confronted by Ricky Starks to the delight of those in attendance.

During the following staredown, Starks made it clear he wanted KENTA’s title before the Japanese star left the ring. There is no word on if or when a potential match will take place.

Despite the controversy around him, Starks will be back in action in January when he takes on Mike Santana at House of Glory Watch The Throne.

When asked about Starks’ status during the post-Worlds End media scrum, AEW boss Tony Khan gave little away, only telling fans to tune into Dynamite on January 1st as anyone could show up.