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Jon Moxley suddenly turned on his stablemate, Bryan Danielson, and choked him out with a plastic bag following his title defense at AEW All Out 2024. Surprisingly enough, PAC and Claudio Castagnoli were in on the sneak attack. Since this incident, Moxley has continued to talk in riddles on Dynamite indicating that something big was about to happen.
At WrestleDream, Moxley seemingly ended Danielson's in-ring career by beating him for the AEW World Championship. Following the match, Wheeler Yuta also turned on the 43-year-old and choked him out with a plastic bag. The despicable act brought out several of the roster's talents to try and save the veteran from the assault. This segment raised a lot of questions like what is next for Moxley and his new stable. And the answer to that could be - Ricky Starks.
Starks has been absent from an AEW ring since March this year. Despite his lengthy absence, he has made headlines for several reasons and is still over with the fans. The 34-year-old also recently mentioned that he was cleared for in-ring action. Given the heat on Jon Moxley and his faction after WrestleDream, a strong babyface needs to stand up to them and that person could be the Absolute.
Additionally, Tony Khan might want a newsworthy Dynamite after WrestleDream and could bring back Starks to do just that. His return to confront Moxley makes sense because he is one of the most popular stars on the roster presently.
Ricky Starks opens up on rumors of him leaving AEW for WWE
During Ricky Starks' long hiatus from AEW TV, several rumors about him were making the rounds. One of those was that he was injured. However, he debunked that by stating that he was ready to wrestle.
Then there were rumors that he was headed to WWE after his contract expired. This made the most sense since Starks has made several backstage appearances for the company. He was also in attendance at WrestleMania 40 when Cody Rhodes won the Undisputed WWE Championship.
During a recent edition of Highspots Virtual Signing, Ricky Starks indicated that he wasn't going to leave Tony Khan's promotion.
“Honestly, that’s so sweet that people would say that to me [that they think I’ll end up working for someone else]. I think it’s a compliment. A great thing to hear people care about me that much,” he said. [H/T - Wrestletalk]
It will be interesting to see whether Ricky Starks will finally make his long-awaited return to AEW on Dynamite to confront the freshly crowned World Champion.
