Ricky Saints (Ricky Starks in AEW) left AEW on February 10th when he was removed from the AEW roster page, becoming a free agent.
One night later, Ricky appeared on NXT television.
Ricky had been off AEW television since March 2024, but had been making independent appearances at the end of the year.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio with Bully Ray, Ricky was asked about his AEW departure and what happened.
"There are situations that arise....there could be a bunch of things that kind of culminated. I don't know the specifics of what it is. Some people, you ask the internet, 'It's because you were at the Rumble.' First off, screw you. The footage leaked from me being at the Rumble. I wasn't backstage. I was simply visiting someone who was an hour away. Not only that, I left after the first match. Some could say, 'You were at Mania in a suite and you got on camera cheering.' Screw you. You're an idiot with no friends and no passion in life if you think the damndest thing that I've done is cheering somebody at another company. 'Bad optics.' You're blind, you don't know what you're talking about. My boss was okay with it. I can't tell you exactly what the moment was. You could say it was Punk week when things fell apart. Absolutely, I probably agree with that. You could say Ricky didn't play the politics well enough. Okay, for sure," said Ricky.
Asked if there were a lot of politics in AEW, Ricky replied, "I'm not saying there are. Just as much as any other company, probably. You could say that I maybe didn't protect myself in that way. There are so many thing you could say. What I can say for myself is that when I got hurt in March, that was it, I never came back. Even then I wasn't hurt, it was a precaution thing because I got scared and had a stinger. Then I was fine. After that, no dice. No communication. Nothing. That is okay because, if someone is mad at me, the reason I say it was okay is because I ended up here. Everything worked out. I don't know explicitly where it went wrong. I can't point to one thing. I can say it was a storm of things, probably. Did I do something that may have tipped them off? Sure. Asking for my release this past whatever, that could have been it. Never once was I not willing to do something. Never once was I sabotaging anything. What I think it probably was is there were probably things said to him from other people, maybe, I don't know."
Ricky was asked if he believed it was personal or professional.
"It was probably personal. If it was professional, it wouldn't have happened this way. That's how I believe it. That's not to disparage anybody there. Just so we're clear, I already know how this is going to be taken. There is nothing disparaging for me to say. What I am saying is the truth that I don't know exactly what it was. If you point to the two times I was caught on footage at WWE, I can tell you that you're wrong. Some people will say, 'We could tell he was phoning it in.' Bullshit. There was never a match of mine in my entire career that I gave less than 1000%. You can jump off a cliff with that opinion because it's not even real. Don't disrespect me and say that I gave something less than 1000%. That is not in my bones. There is no part of my body that I am capable of doing that. It is what it is. There are situations that will probably pop up again when it comes to politicking and guys putting their nose in businesses that doesn't belong. I will say this, there are some people that stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn't have happened," he stated.
Asked it was younger wrestlers or veterans, Ricky said, "Veterans. That's it. I'm going to leave it at that. If they have a problem with me, they have my number. Text me about it. With that being said, I'm glad to be here."
Finally, Ricky was asked if it was his creative direction, or it it was a CM Punk and Jack Perry situation, referencing Punk wanting to prevent Jack from doing "internet stuff" or using real glass.
"No (it wasn't a Punk-Perry situation). I think what it was...if it didn't work for their creative, then someone had to get the boot. That's how I see it. I'm not trying to be negative in my thought process about it, but I do think that, for sure. That's okay. That's fine. If you want to step on me to get ahead in your illustrious career, everyone should have an illustrious career, but at the same time, I'm not wet behind my ears," said Ricky.
Ricky had been teaming with Big Bill before they lost in the AEW Tag Team Title tournament and Ricky was off television.
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