WWE Star Gives Credit To Bryan Danielson & CM Punk

Bryan Danielson and CM Punk helped guide an NXT star.

At No Mercy, Ricky Saints will challenge Oba Femi for the NXT Championship in the biggest match of his WWE career to date.

Saints, known as Ricky Starks, made a big impression in AEW after becoming a regular on Dynamite through the early years of the company’s existence. However, by early 2024, he disappeared from view as speculation gathered pace that he was preparing to jump to WWE.

Although he had to wait 11 months, Starks made his WWE debut in February and wasted little time in making an impact. Now known as Ricky Saints, the star won the North American Championship during a rivalry with Ethan Page before turning his attention to the NXT Championship.

During an appearance on Good Karma Wrestling, Saints was asked who had helped him along his wrestling journey.

“There’s a few people in my life that have really helped me. You’ve got Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Cody, Shawn Spears; people like that, that have really, along the way, helped guide me to this point that I’m getting to.

Even some guys that are not as known. God rest his soul, Jax Dane was another guy from NWA that really took me under his wing and helped me out. So, I can’t say that this was a lonesome journey, for sure. There are people who have helped as much as they could, as much as they have been able to help.

So I do think that this Saturday, it is on me to not only make them proud, but to make myself proud and my family proud as well.”

Bryan Danielson Reflects On Ricky Saints Match

One of the star’s most famous matches in AEW came at All Out 2023, where he battled Bryan Danielson in a Strap Match. Starks had been locked in a rivalry with CM Punk at the time, but the event came just a week after Punk’s backstage fight with Jack Perry at All In that ultimately cost him his job.

Looking back at that match in July 2025, Danielson joked that he was only added to the match after an “unfortunate incident” backstage. He added that he shouldn’t have been wrestling as he was still only a matter of weeks removed from breaking his arm at Forbidden Door.

H/t to Fightful