Ricky Starks' New WWE Name Revealed As Ricky SAINTS (NXT News)
Absolute goes from Ricky Starks to Ricky Saints on NXT.
Having debuted on last week's NXT, Ricky Starks formally signed his kayfabe contract on last night's episode. But alas, Ricky Starks is no more, for the Stroke Daddy is now going by the name Ricky Saints.
On this latest NXT episode, Ricky was welcomed to the ring by Ava in order to do the classic contract signing spot. As is so often the case with such segments, Absolute was soon interrupted by Ethan Page. While Saints and Page talked about the NXT spotlight not being big enough for the both of them, All Ego was attacked by Je'Von Evans, continuing their beef that dates back to Page breaking Evans' jaw at the end of last year.
Just when things looked to be getting back on track with this contract signing, Ricky was then interrupted by Wes Lee, with a tag match later confirmed for next week's NXT as Saints teams with Je'Vonn to take on Lee and Page. After Ricky had sent Lee over the top rope, he finally signed the contract, with the camera lingering on that paperwork as it displayed the name Ricky Saints.
From Ricky Starks To Ricky Saints
Ricky Starks is not the first talent to get their name changed in NXT, and he certainly won't be the last.
Of course, it might take a little while for long-time fans of Ricky to get used to his new Saints moniker, but from what we've seen so far from his presentation, it very much looks like the persona seen in NXT is very much in tune with what we've seen from Starks in the likes of AEW and the NWA. One also has to take into account that, to some NXT viewers, this could well be their first time seeing the former AEW Tag Team Champion, and so for those fans, they'll just simply now know the hugely talented New Orleans native as Ricky Saints with no prior knowledge of his pre-WWE work.
When looking back at NXT over the years, it may have been a little jarring to get used to Tyler Black being Seth Rollins, to El Generico being Sami Zayn, to Kevin Steen being Kevin Owens, to Prince Devitt being Finn Balor, to Eli Drake being LA Knight, and more recently seeing Brian Pillman Jr. becoming Lexis King. The point being, as wrestling fans, a name change is something that more often than not becomes accepted and forgotten about within a matter of weeks or months. The main thing is that Ricky Saints gets afforded the chance to show what he's about both in the ring and with a microphone in his hand - and in that regard, Ricky has all the tools to achieve major success in NXT and eventually in the wider WWE.