Update On Rumors Surrounding Ricky Starks' Current Relationship With AEW

Former AEW World Tag Team Champion Ricky Starks has been MIA from AEW programming since March and hasn't wrestled since May when he defeated QT Marshall in an independent appearance. In a new podcast, the group behind WrestlePurists discussed the situation.

"The problem with Ricky Starks and Ricky Starks-based reporting is you hear one thing about Ricky Starks from one guy and then what you hear from the next guy doesn't line up at all," Ibou of WrestlePurists said in the discussion. 

Ibou goes on to describe reporting on Starks as "contradictory and a "fool's errand," and says the only reliable info seems to come from Starks and his management team. Rumors have swirled about the possibility of Starks having issues with his tag team with Big Bill, or possibly suffering from an injury, but Ibou says the former FTW Champion was healthy and frustrated that the company didn't have any long-term plans for him.

"The things that seem to be overlapping is that he is frustrated with the fact that he hasn't been given a direction. AEW is of the belief that he doesn't want to stay anymore and seemingly he is waiting his deal out, that is what people think...Nobody can agree when the deal is expiring," Ibou said. Sources have said that Starks's contract was up in July, some say at the end of the year, others say he has an entire full year left on his contract. "The bottom line is Ricky Starks is home. He's healthy. He does not have any long-term plans in AEW. AEW has no long-term plans for him at this juncture and that's the situation."

When asked about Starks, AEW President Tony Khan was upbeat but vague about Stark's current place in AEW.