February is off to a great start for Ricky Starks.
The former AEW World Tag Team Champion was finally granted his AEW release. And since Starks doesn’t have a 90-day non-compete clause, that means he can show up to NXT or Smackdown this week! However, he would have to drop the DEFY World Championship first, as Starks won the title at the 8th Anniversary show over the weekend. He beat another former WWE star to capture the belt - KENTA.
It was an exciting DEFY show that featured plenty of great matches and surprises. A big one was Ricochet dropping by, but Swerve Strickland wasn’t going to let the former WWE Intercontinental Champion have all the fun as the former AEW World Champion made sure to serve him a slice of humble pie.
AEW regulars Nick Wayne and Marina Shafir also got wins at the Hundredth event, whereas Emmy winner Paul Walter Hauser continues to live out his dream in violent matches as he beat “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela in one of his trademark Street Fights.
Going back to Ricky Starks, there isn’t any word on when he’ll defend the DEFY World title next. Given his release, Starks may just be figuring out his next move as it’s been reported in the past that WWE was interested in the former AEW star. We’ll find out what happens in the following weeks. Until then, congratulations to Ricky for winning a world title!
Check out the results of last week’s DEFY Hundredth show:
• Sinner & Saint (c) & Evan Rivers def. Los Desperados (Gringo Loco, Arez & Latigo) in a Six-Man Ladder Match to retain the DEFY Tag Team titles
• The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv & Harv Sihra) def. C4 (Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas)
• Nick Wayne def. Marcus Mathers
• Marina Shafir (c) defeats Zamaya to retain the Defy Women’s championship
• Paul Walter Hauser def. Joey Janela in a Street Fight
• Amerikan Gunz (Ethan HD & Mike Santiago) def. Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl & Ricky Gibson)
• Ricky Starks def. KENTA to become the NEW Defy World champion