Ricky Starks Recalls Roman Reigns “Stomping The Sh-t” Out Of Him On WWE RAW
Current AEW Wrestler and FTW Champion 'Absolute' Ricky Starks has competed inside of a wrestling ring less in 2021 than in previous years. During an interview with Brandon Walker of Barstool Rasslin', Starks discussed the neck injury he suffered in May that had kept him out of action for several months.
"I haven't had torn ligaments," Starks said. "The only injury I ever had in my entire career was that neck injury."
Starks has appeared on WWE programming in the past as an extra and as an enhancement talent. On an episode of RAW in 2018, Starks appeared as a U.S. Marshal and arrested Roman Reigns, only to be attacked by Reigns afterward. Starks noted that Reigns really beat him up in the segment, and apologized afterward.
"When I showed up to work that day, they said, 'you're gonna be, you know, they said you're gonna be a cop, then they said you're gonna be a sheriff, it's, they called it something else," Starks recalled. "So I went there, showed up, talked to Roman (Reigns). Everything was cool, he had to put these cuffs on and they were really tight and he goes, 'hey man, I can't do anything when I got my hands cuffed, so sorry ahead of time'.
"And man, I went to grab him (imitates how he grabbed Reigns) like that to come out of the ring, and he woah (imitates how Reigns hit him very hard), and I said, 'oh okay'. Get in the corner, and he starts stomping the s— out of him. But he was a really great guy, because afterwards, he apologized."
Starks grew up a wrestling fan. He noted that when he first started watching wrestling, The Undertaker was his favorite wrestler. Starks even had the opportunity to train with the Dean Man.
"Growing up, I, in this order, I liked Undertaker, Mankind, and The Rock," Starks said. " Then once I got exposed to a little bit more of wrestling in terms of international, then (Shinjiro) Otani like, jumped into the fray.
"Undertaker is the man. And I can't tell you why, something about him is just so cool. I actually trained with The Undertaker for his match against John Cena in Wrestlemania New Orleans."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Barstool Rasslin' with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.