10 MORE Secret WWE Pasts Of AEW Wrestlers

3. Ricky Starks

Ricky Starks
WWE

Ricky Starks is the one on the bottom, just in case you can't quite tell which of the poor scrubs Jinder Mahal is squeezing that may yet turn out to be one if the industry's biggest stars.

The Team Taz dreamboat was all over World Wrestling Entertainment in the early-to-mid-2010s, working this SmackDown squash against the future WWE Champion as well as clashes against Enzo & Cass and Kane, as well as an all-future-AEW battle alongside Aaron Solow against The Revival on a January 2018 Raw. He was also battered by Ryback in a backstage vignette, and even briefly appeared in 2015's Breaking Ground during Performance Center group shots.

A long time has since passed, but it's bizarre trying to work out what they missed in him. They didn't the second time around - Starks revealed he was contacted by the company about re-signing after his June 2020 bout with Cody Rhodes. His mind was long made up about his past and his future by then.

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett