During a recent appearance on the “Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette” podcast, Ricky Starks commented on Ryback slapping him on an episode of Monday night RAW, his relationship with Tony Khan, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his relationship with Tony Khan: “I still operate as if he’s not supposed to be so accessible to me. I’ve heard stories of how Vince (McMahon) and other CEOs are, and it’s kind of been tapped into my brain and that’s how I approach Tony, under the pretense of that’s how he is, and it isn’t. There are times where I go up to him and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry to bother you.’ He goes, ‘You’re not bothering me, it’s fine.’ I’m still trying to figure out the boundaries there because I’m so in my head of how I think a CEO is, and it’s not the case with Tony.”
On Ryback slapping him on WWE television and why he didn’t sign with the company: “I got slapped in the face three times. He never told me he was going to slap me, so when you see me tense up, that’s me being legit. Initially, I was trying to cry, and Michael Hayes came to me and was like, ‘You ain’t gonna cry like that in a real fight, would you?’ I said, ‘Hell nah, you’re right. I’d bow up to a motherfucker.’ I really enjoyed it, they paid for my shirt that he ripped up. I remember walking to the back, and Miz and CM Punk were like, ‘Good job on that segment.’ That was the end of it.”
On his experience as an extra in WWE: “When I was brand new and getting the call, I was like, ‘This is how I get hired.’ It’s a great feeling. That’s how I learned the most. I sat up on RAW days in the crowd with William Regal while they’re testing the music, and he’ll tell me these stories and me asking questions. I’m a very observant person so sometimes I just sit back and watch everything. It was great. It was an awesome time, but for me, at a certain point, I got tired of it because I felt like there was a ceiling that I kept hitting every time I came. ‘Well, if ya’ll didn’t care for me after the 17th time, how is this 30th time going to be any different?’”
On his goals in AEW: “My goal is to essentially be the wrestler that I wish I had when I was younger. I don’t really think there is someone who looks like me on TV right now or can represent a multi-racial guy from New Orleans who just came out of obscurity, in a sense. I want to be that because that’s what I wish I had when I was younger. I want to be the person who takes wrestling out of this bubble because wrestling is cyclical, and I feel like we are in that turnabout where we’re going to hit a peak. I want to be that person who leads the charge of it being popular. I want to be responsible for the emotional part of you watching. I think we’re kind of desensitized when we watch wrestling nowadays – a guy does this and he does that and you go, ‘OK.’ I want to bring the emotional part into it. I want to make the company a lot of money and have a lasting legacy that people can look back, especially my family and kids, and say, ‘Damn, he did a lot.’ Even the small things. Then, go off and go do movies and rest up my body. I’m all about ‘be like water.’”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
