Ricky Starks Doesn't Want To Be Associated With AEW Pillars

Ricky Starks stands alone. The former FTW Champion feels that he defies definitions, especially when it comes to the "pillars" of AEW.

"Sorry, I don't wish to be involved in any pillar talk," Starks said in a tweet. "We're way past that convo. You can leave it to those guys to be enclosed by those definitions. [I] stand alone. Island supporting himself."

It was MJF that dubbed Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Jungle Boy, and himself as the Four Pillars of AEW, a play on the four pillars of All Japan Pro Wrestling. AJPW's "Four Pillars of Heaven," were a group of wrestlers that chosen by All Japan founder Giant Baba to lead the already long-running Japanese promotion out of the doldrums of the 80s and into their most prosperous era. Those men were legendary talents Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada, and the late Mitsuharu Misawa. AEW's "pillars" on the other hand, have been with the fledgling promotion since day one and are on track to be the homegrown stars that dominate the main event picture for years to come.

Starks has been an AEW stalwart since he answered Cody Rhodes' open challenge for the TNT Championship in June 2020, and was victorious in a recent, career-defining Lights Out Match against Powerhouse Hobbs at "AEW Rampage: Grand Slam" this past Friday. The win avenged a shockingly brief loss to his former Team Taz comrade, suffered at AEW All Out. The feud was so heated that former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. feels the work the two men are doing is second only to AEW pillar MJF's current story.