Why WWE Champion Wasn’t Stressed About Name Change After Leaving AEW
A current champion in WWE was okay with changing his name after a successful AEW run.
Ricky Saints became the WWE NXT Champion at No Mercy when he surprisingly ended the dominant championship reign of Oba Femi. Not bad for somebody who signed with WWE in February of this year.
At Halloween Havoc, Saints retained the NXT Championship against Trick Williams to fully establish himself as the brand’s biggest star. Prior to winning the NXT Title, Saints also had a run as the NXT North American Champion.
As a pro wrestling veteran for over a decade, Ricky Saints has emerged as a leader in NXT because of the many young talents on the brand, and he’s someone who has been through a lot in his career.
Before his WWE run, Ricky Saints was known as Ricky Starks, which is his real name. Since WWE likes to own trademarks on wrestler names, he became Ricky Saints, which is a reference to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, since he is from New Orleans.
While some fans may not like the Ricky Saints name because they were used to Ricky Starks, the NXT Champion told Busted Open Radio that he wasn’t worried about it too much.
“I wasn’t stressed about it because I’m the same person at heart. Even then, when I’m in the airport, people still call me Starks. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’
Either way, you still know how I am. I am appreciative and thankful for that in itself. I didn’t really think about how long it would take, I just knew it would happen and eventually people would be like, ‘I can get with it now.’” (H/T Fightful)
Ricky Saints Wants WWE Main Roster Stars To Face Him In NXT
There have been some WWE main roster wrestlers who have faced a current NXT Champion for their title. In one instance, Dolph Ziggler even shockingly beat the NXT Champion Bron Breakker and held the title for a few weeks before Breakker reclaimed it.
As the NXT Champion, Ricky Saints made it clear he wants to face some WWE main roster talent to test himself.
“The next step would be, let’s mix it up. Let’s take somebody from the main roster, bring them down here, and see how an NXT Champion compares to one of those guys.
Even then, the talent pool at NXT is so deep. Je’Von Evans, Myles Borne, so many people are on the way up. I have no problem showing the different styles or the contrast between me and these people, especially when it comes to experience. I have no problem showing that off.
Those are areas that I’m interested in because it mixes it up, it’s a little bit different, but it also gives you a glimpse into the future of what we have at NXT. On top of that, it can show you the NXT Champion can hang with anyone.”
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