On a recent edition of the “Battleground Podcast,” AEW wrestler Ricky Starks shared his thoughts on his AEW All Out 2023 match with Bryan Danielson receiving a five-star rating, his in-ring style, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Dave Meltzer rating his All Out 2023 match five stars: “It was cool that Dave [Meltzer] thought that highly of my match. It’s pretty cool, I guess. A little cool thing to put in my hat there.”
On not having much expectations for his All Out match: “Overall, I thought the match — while going into it, I didn’t really, I don’t know, I didn’t have much expectations. There’s a lot surrounding everything leading up to that match, and I guess for me, I just didn’t know what to expect. That was my first strap match, obviously, and I really felt like, as a competitor, I stood on my own, and that was like, you know, the true real glimpse of what you had been seeing over the summer on ‘Collision,’ where, you know, you’re like, ‘Damn. This is it. This is the dude.’”
On how hard he works in the ring and his style: “I work very hard. I know my style may not be for everybody. I know some people who call me boring or, as a young kid, say, ‘mid.’ But I feel like there’s some people out there that do like me, and I’m cool with that, and I work hard in every match that I have, and that match was no different. And I took my fair share of punishment, and I’m glad that a lot of people enjoyed it. I’m glad that people thought highly enough of it. The reception that I got, especially from people backstage and people that texted me, was very overwhelming. The next day, I was very overwhelmed with how it was received.”
On earning the fans’ respect after beating Wheeler Yuta at WrestleDream: “I don’t think we’re there yet, but I’m not wrestling to try to win the respect of everybody, right? I feel like that is an impossible task. I do feel like this year has been kind of bumpy, as always, and the opportunities that I’ve had have been good, but it’s always about the stuff that happens afterward, right? That’s a big thing for contention is, like, ‘Alright. Let’s see how this kind of plays out.’ I do think some people are like, ‘Wow. Alright. Ricky is more than what we thought.’ I’m not saying every match that I have, people are gonna rate it five stars or whatnot. That’s just not gonna happen, but I would at least hope if I don’t earn someone’s respect, at least I have someone who says, ‘One thing he does is he works very hard. He does not phone it in.’ Every match I genuinely work as hard as I can and give it my all.”
