AEW Star Backstage At WWE Royal Rumble

From Wednesday's Dynamite to The Alamodome, this AEW sensation was in WWE's house on Saturday.

by Michael Hamflett
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AEW

All Elite Wrestling star Ricky Starks was backstage at Saturday's Royal Rumble.

'Absolute' was spotted alongside former colleague Cody Rhodes as 'The American Nightmare' returned from injury and went on to secure his WrestleMania main event with a maiden Rumble win.

Initially posted on Reddit, the shot was removed but resurfaced across social media as people enjoyed the company crossover.

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Starks admitted as recently as December that he was in contact with Rhodes "on a daily basis", and has nurtured a relationship with the former AEW executive vice president since the two first came together.

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Starks' June 11th 2020 TNT Championship match with Rhodes was credited as being the contest that earned him his full time spot spot in the company altogether. Champion defeated Challenger that night, but Starks went on to feature prominently with the organisation from then on. The two wrestled in tag matches against one another later in the year after Starks had linked up with Brian Cage as part of Team Taz, and Starks has praised Rhodes' coaching and mentorship from then on.

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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