Ricky Starks says CM Punk has never done him wrong.
In the early months of AEW Collision, CM Punk was the face of the show. He feuded with Ricky Starks, and they were set to face each other at AEW All Out. However, Punk's contract was terminated after he got into a backstage incident with Jack Perry at AEW All In. Punk has since returned to WWE. Starks went on to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship with Big Bill.
In an interview with WhatCulture Wrestling, Ricky Starks was asked to comment on working with Punk and other great minds on the AEW roster.
“Dude, it was incredible. Even beyond those guys, who have history, they’re veterans, but don’t forget, the [Young] Bucks are also two guys that I’ve talked to and gone to. They’ve been super helpful and really knowledgeable as well. So it’s not just the veterans. It’s people who are more experienced than I am. So I love all those guys. They’ve been very helpful in that regard. Punk was very instrumental in my presentation on Collision. There’s a video clip that constantly gets reshared where the pyro is going off and exploding. That was Punk’s idea. Punk has a vision for trying to help out certain people. I do remember a conversation with him where he was like, ‘You know, it’s really up to you to swim. Sink or swim.’ I felt like a lot of stress on myself and pressure on myself to constantly out-perform my last match that I had, just to prove that if he was going to put his name on me, so to speak, or be the one to push for me, then I needed to do my part to make sure that I never let that down," Starks said.
Starks continued by highlighting how important Punk was to his run on AEW Collision in those early months. He stated that he did not have an issue with Punk. Starks then emphasized that Punk had never wronged him.
"Punk was very instrumental in making sure, like, hey, we should try to do something different with this dude. I think Punk is the only one that was closest to really understanding me in that regard, when it came to how I came up in the car [on AEW Collision]. I had that, and then I was one with the bag. Every time he would see my outfit, he laugh and be like, ‘This is perfect.’ So there was a great collaboration going on in that regard. So that’s why I have no issue with Punk. I don’t give a fuck what anybody tries to tell me. I don’t care. He has never done me wrong. You can have your opinions on him and all that, but you shouldn’t vilify someone for thinking differently than you. I will say that til I’m blue in the face. He really went out of his way to really try to make something on that Collision show for me, and I feel like it was working. I feel like we were really onto something. He was a great dude, and I still think Punk is a good dude, in my opinion. He tried to help a lot of us on that show, and I can always be thankful for that," Starks said.
During the interview, Ricky Starks discussed his absence from AEW. Click here to see what he had to say.
Ricky Starks recently clarified that he is not injured. As of this writing, there is no word on when he will return to AEW TV.
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