Ricky Starks finally opens up on major match getting cancelled due to CM Punk’s AEW firing

AEW star Ricky Starks recently revealed that he was frustrated that his scheduled match with CM Punk last year did not push through despite having a great buildup. Punk had a rather unceremonious exit from AEW last year.

Starks and Punk were in a feud last year, after the former had a change in demeanor, and the latter felt that he was being disrespected. After several back-and-forth exchanges, the two were seemingly set for a match at All Out, but this was eventually scrapped due to the Straight Edge Superstar being fired from the company following his scuffle with Jack Perry at All In.

Ricky Starks eventually faced Bryan Danielson in a Strap match at the pay-per-view. During a recent interview with WhatCulture Wrestling, he talked about how he was frustrated that the set plans did not come to fruition. He wished circumstances were different and he would have seen the match through to the end.

"Obviously, I was frustrated. I was definitely frustrated because I must have done something bad in my past life cause I just feel like, I don't want to say it's bad luck, but man, just tough breaks after break, you know what I'm saying? That's just what it feels like... I wish it didn't happen like that; it would have been interesting to see how the Punk match would have turned out in that environment but obviously it's still in my head... It sucks, it really does suck." [H/T - WrestlingInc.]

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Ricky Starks opens up about WrestleMania and AEW All In and what's next for him

During the same interview, Ricky Starks was asked about appearing at WrestleMania. He revealed that he had stopped dreaming about appearing at the Grandest Stage of Them All, but was looking at AEW's equivalent, with this being All In.

He admitted that he was bummed out that he did not appear at the show last year, but it seemed that he did not have high hopes of being at this year's edition of the pay-per-view either.

“The idea of even being at WrestleMania is so… I don’t even think… I think I had that dream, and then I stopped having that dream for whatever reason. Not to be sad or anything. I don’t know why. But I think everybody dreams about that. But AEW has its own WrestleMania, so to speak, with All In. It did suck last year to not be on it. I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment, and I don’t want to publicly say that I’m gonna be on All In this year, and then I just don’t," said Ricky Starks. [H/T - Fightful]

He continued by talking about what was next in store for him, but he apparently did not have too many clues to what was next and was just hoped to be back on television soon.

Ricky Starks is one of those stars that had a great 2023. He feuded with various big names on the roster, including a great tag team title run extending up to this year. It remains to be seen when he'll be given a chance to pick up on that momentum.