KENTA vs. Ricky Starks?
This is not Forbidden Door. While the former AEW World Tag Team Champion was forced off the GCW card last month, Starks is coming back to DEFY as he confronted KENTA - who is the current DEFY World Champion - following his match against Schaff.
It was confirmed that KENTA will defend the DEFY World title against Starks at DEFY Hundredth in February. Tickets went on sale December 31.
KENTA has been holding it down as the DEFY World Champion for over 570 days. The 43-year-old beat AEW’s Nick Wayne at DEFY Your Nightmare on June 3, 2023, and has successfully defended his belt ten times. Notable names like Mark Haskins, Bryan Keith, Cara Noir, and Joey Janela failed to dethrone the world champion. Can Ricky Starks pull off that feat on February 7th?
As for Starks, he's been doing indie runs since May. Starks’ disappearance from AEW television is quite the mystery. While many assume the reason Tony Khan hasn’t booked the AEW star, the AEW President has yet to give a simple answer on why Ricky has been gone from AEW programming for over a year. Khan was asked the whereabouts of Starks at the World’s End media scrum and he basically gave a runaround answer.
“People have to stay tuned to see who’s gonna be a part of the Fight for the Fallen and the simulcast, and it remains to be seen,” Khan said. “We’ve got a great roster here, and we’ve got one of our best pay-per-view lineups for Worlds End. As for who’s gonna be at the mother of all simulcasts, that remains to be seen.”
Starks likely won’t be seen on AEW television again. That’s speculation on my end. But at the very least, Tony is allowing him to work indies so he isn’t sitting at home doing nothing all day. KENTA vs. Starks should be an interesting match as both men are notable names and can wrestle when it’s time to go. Starks has previously fought in DEFY; the last time was in 2018 against KENTA’s world title opponent. He ended up losing that match. This will be Ricky Starks’ first match in DEFY in 7 years. At the moment, that’s the only match confirmed for DEFY Hundredth.