On June 17, 2020, Ricky Starks made his debut for AEW as he answered Cody Rhodes’ open challenge for the AEW TNT Championship in a losing effort on Dynamite. Following the title match, AEW President Tony Khan announced that Starks had signed with the promotion. A few months later in September, Starks was defeated by Darby Allin in singles action.
On the Rewind With Besa podcast, Starks named his AEW debut against Cody and his match against Allin as his favorite bouts in his wrestling career. The Absolute said,
“My first favorite match would be against Cody Rhodes. That was the match where I made my debut on Dynamite. That was the match that helped me get a contract with AEW. Also, too, that’s one of my good friends. So that sticks out in my head [as] one of my favorite matches. The other being [against] another Seattle hometown hero, Darby Allin. I had a match against him as well. So that’d be a second.”
