10 Things We Learned From NWA Worlds Champion Nick Aldis (Exclusive Interview)

2. Ricky Starks Is Destined For Greatness

He might not necessarily be one of the biggest names in professional wrestling right now, but anyone who's seen Ricky Starks in action will frantically tell you the Stroke Daddy is destined to be an industry leader in the future.

For so long, we've all heard about that intangible 'it factor' of the wrestling business, and Starks is the perfect example of that magical attribute. And like your humble Ricky Starks fanboy of a writer here, Nick Aldis is similarly ridiculously high on the future of Starks. Maybe to the surprise of many, Aldis recommended Starks to the NWA higher-ups without even having seen him wrestle a match or cut a promo of any sort. Such is the entertainment value of Ricky Starks, Aldis was sold on him purely based on the ludicrously entertaining video packages Starks had put together himself.

As Aldis enthused, "The thing with Ricky, I’d never even seen him wrestle. I’d never seen a match of his or even a promo, I just saw his 1-800-Starksline vignettes he had made. Somebody I was following on Twitter retweeted it and I watched it and went, ‘Who is this?!’ I immediately sent it to Dave [Lagana] and Billy [Corgan]. I sent this link and said, ‘I’ve never seen this guy wrestle, I’ve never seen this guy cut a promo, but he’s money.’"

During out chat, Nick continued to put over the former NWA World Television Champion's charisma, his self-awareness, and how he isn't afraid to mine the knowledge and experience of the likes of Aldis, Eddie Kingston, Homicide, and Trevor Murdoch.

Now, if you haven't already, go and check out some Ricky Starks matches and promos. You can thanks us later.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.