10 Banned Photos WWE Don’t Want You To See

9. Ricky Starks Is Seen At The Royal Rumble

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WWE

Ricky Starks is a close friend of Cody Rhodes, who sees the world in him. Cody was taken by Ricky’s promos in the NWA well before their clash for the AEW TNT title in 2020. That match was so great that Tony Khan made the decision to sign Starks before the finish.

Now, Khan will sign everybody with a pair of boots, but it actually meant something then. 

Starks and Rhodes grew so close, in fact, that Starks accompanied Cody to the 2023 Royal Rumble. This sort of thing isn’t uncommon - wrestlers visit backstage at other companies frequently - but the leaked pictorial evidence was, for some people anyway, damning. Starks was on brilliant form “defending” the leak on Swerve Strickland’s podcast, saying that he looked jacked enough to rob a bank - but it wasn’t a good look at the time. It has dated more poorly still, now that Starks can’t shake the perception that he’s waiting out his AEW deal to jump ship (which might explain why Tony Khan won’t book him). 

There’s absolutely zero evidence that it happened in this specific instance, but given accusations levelled against WWE by AEW of contract tampering, it’s not a great look for WWE, either. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!