Former AEW star Ricky Starks recently made his WWE debut when he joined the NXT roster. During this week's show, his new ring name was revealed as "Ricky Saints," a big change but one that was to be expected now he's in WWE.
Talking on Busted Open Radio, Saints addressed his new surname and said he views it as a way of paying homage to his home city.
"It’s as close as you’re going to get to Starks. I like the name. I know a lot of people are going to be...it’s going to take time for them to get used to it," he acknowledged. "I respect that they care so deeply about me that they rebel against the name change. But at the same time, I am a product of New Orleans, first and foremost, and I want to pay respect to that as well."
"I think this is the best of both worlds and that means a lot to me," Saints continued. "Obviously I think it’s cool to have a piece of home with me. And the person doesn’t change. I’m still that guy, so it is what it is."
There's been speculation about Saints signing with WWE for some time now. He was spotted backstage alongside Cody Rhodes at various WWE events and was barely being used on television despite ranking among AEW's most popular stars.
Given the opportunity to explain why he left the company, Saints dismissed the notion that it had anything to do with his presence at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania.
"I don’t know the specifics of what it was. Some people, you ask the internet, it was because you were at the Rumble. Screw you. The footage got leaked from me being at the Rumble. I wasn’t backstage...I left after the first match," he explained. "Some could say well, you were at Mania in a suite and you got on camera cheering. Screw you."
"You’re an idiot with no friends and no passion in life if you think the damndest thing I’ve done is cheering somebody on in another company...my boss was okay with it," he said of AEW President Tony Khan.
Saints pointed to certain veterans (Chris Jericho is the prevailing theory among fans online) being responsible for his leaving AEW and believes it was down to them that he was left on the shelf at home for no other discernable reason.
"I can’t tell you exactly what the moment was. You could say it was Punk leaving and things kinda fell apart. Absolutely, I probably agree with you on that, alright? Or you could say is that Ricky didn’t play the politics well enough. Alright, for sure...there’s so many things you can say. What I can say for myself is that when I got hurt in March, that was it, I never came back. And even then, I wasn’t hurt, it was a precaution thing where I got scared as I had a stinger. Then I was fine. After that, no, no dice, no communication. No nothing."
"And that is okay because...I ended up here. And it’s fine. Everything worked out. I don’t know explicitly where it went wrong, I can’t point to one thing. I can say it was a storm of things probably. Did I do something that may have tipped them off? Sure, asking for my release whenever you know, this past whatever, that could have been about it right? But never once was I not willing to do something, never once was I sabotaging anything."
"I will say this, there are some people who stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn’t have happened,” Saints said. “Veterans. And that’s it, I’ll leave it at that. And if they got a problem with me, they got my number. And text me about it. I think what it was is if it didn’t work for their creative, then someone had to get the boot. That’s how I see it."
"But I’m not trying to be negative in my thought process about it…if you want to step on me to get ahead in your illustrious career, everyone has an illustrious career. Everyone should have an illustrious career. That is perfectly fine. But at the same time, I’m not wet behind my ears."
Saints' first WWE match will be next week when he teams with Je'Von Evans to take on Ethan Page and Wes Lee on NXT.