Ricky Steamboat says he wanted to make sure Ricky Starks got some heat from the crowd during his AEW appearance.
Steamboat appeared on the August 5 episode of AEW Collision, where he was the special outside official for Ricky Stark's match with CM Punk. He shoved Starks' feet off the ropes and counted the winning pin for Punk. Starks attacked Steamboat after the match and whipped him with a belt.
In an interview with Bill Apter for Sportskeeda Wrestling, Steamboat was asked about how his appearance on AEW Collision came about.
“Tony Schiavone, the ring announcer for AEW. He got ahold of me. Through the request of CM Punk, and they told me the storyline, the last time CM Punk and Ricky Starks met, Ricky cheated to get the win. So they were thinking about maybe another referee on the floor, another pair of eyes, and make the match for the Heavyweight Championship of the world, for their world championship. I like CM Punk a lot. I don’t like to fly commercial anymore. I live outside of Knoxville. On Friday, I was doing a comic convention in Charlotte, and after I was done with that, I drove up to Roanoke. I was doing another comic convention there, and of course AEW’s show was Saturday evening. So the company, through Tony Khan, he asked, he said, ‘I’d like to pick you up in Roanoke in our private jet and fly you down to Roanoke and fly you down to Greensboro, where we’re doing the television taping, about a 35-minute flight. You do the match with CM Punk and Ricky Starks, and we will get you back on my plane,’ Tony said, ‘Fly you back to Roanoke,’ because I had a commitment to do my signing. Me not flying commercial anymore, a lot of it is just too many hassles going through security and red tape. I don’t want to deal with that anymore. So in offering me that, that was really off the hook to fly it private to pick me up [and] come down and do it. So I said, ‘Okay,'" Steamboat said.
Steamboat went on to describe how he didn't agree with the initial pitch. He stated that the crowd was split during the match, and he was curious to see how the fans would react to the post-match beatdown. Steamboat also expressed his wish that "smart fans" would focus on whether the performers involved accomplished what they set out to do.
"They suggested an outcome that I didn’t like. I said, ‘Look, you’re doing a slow turn with this kid, Ricky Starks. You’re trying to turn him heel, and what you’re suggesting, there’s not gonna be any heat on him.’ So I made the suggestion of what everybody saw. ‘I’d like to put some heat on this kid.’ So everything carried out to the T, and when I was there, I’m ringside as the second referee. I was listening to the crowd, it was almost like a 50/50 split. The fans were very generous on my introduction. Very; very generous. The match was going on, and I’m saying, ‘This is about a 50/50 split.’ I said I’m gonna be very curious to see what kind of reaction we’re going to get after everything goes down. I’m gonna say it was probably 80/20 now, where they’re booing him and what he did to me. I was reading some of the comments, and a couple of them were saying, you know the term about smart fans? The one making a comment, ‘Well, they’re just following the storyline.’ I wish they would, if they’re so smart, that the thought of the process that they would have would be, ‘Okay, let’s see what they set out, and if they accomplished it,’ instead of saying, ‘Oh, they’re just following the script [or] the storyline.’ We had a lot of positive great comments about what took place. But you always get the few that think they know the business, and they just want to put their two cents in. The bottom line is, if they know so much about the business, I just wanted them to come out and say that what they set out to do, Ricky Starks, CM Punk, and Ricky Steamboat, they got the job done, they accomplished it,'" Steamboat said.
After noting that he was glad to be able to help pass the torch and put the heat on Starks, Steamboat noted that he wasn't particularly excited about the appearance. He stated that he has been there and done that, and he's happy with what he has done.
"I’m not enthused about doing stuff, in relation to things in the business. I’m not biting at the bit to…I’ve turned down more stuff than people could imagine. I’ve been there, done it, and I’m happy for what I’ve done," he said.
Steamboat then described how the original plan called for him to chop Starks and send him running, but he realized that outcome wouldn't put any heat on the young star. The legend detailed how he pitched a different angle, as he wanted Starks to do something borderline "disgusting" in order to get heat.
“They had a result where everything would go down as it was, and as he would spin me around and kind of take a shot, I would block it and give him some big chops, and he would take a bump through the ropes out on the floor and scurry up the ramp. It would be like a happy, happy moment. I’m thinking, ‘Where’s the heat there? Where’s the heat for the kid?’ I caught him with his foot on the ropes, so that was a happy moment. The referee got knocked down, so I did my job, I got in the ring and counted one-two-three. So there’s another happy moment. Then he would spin me around and I would block the punch, the cheap shot and hit him with some chops, and he takes the bump on the floor, and then tail between his legs, scurrying up the ramp to the back. It was absolutely no heat. Plus, the fact that I’m 70. They’re gonna say, ‘God, Starks, a 70-year-old-man just whopped up on you.’ So I said, ‘We gotta turn this around to where he’s gotta catch me off-guard and sucker me and get me down and do something to where it’s almost to the point of disgusting and shameful,'" Steamboat said.
As previously reported, Steamboat requested the Ricky Starks beatdown on AEW Collision. More information is available here.
Steamboat also appeared on the September 2 episode of AEW Collision and faced off with Starks. He revealed Bryan Danielson as Starks' opponent at AEW All Out.
Click here to catch up on our coverage of the September 23 episode of AEW Collision.
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