Ricky Starks On How He's Helping With Autism Inclusion At AEW Shows
On a Friday's episode of SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio, AEW wrestler and current FTW World Champion Ricky Starks joined Dave LeGreca and Tommy Dreamer.
Starks opened up about his personal life when he used to work as a gymnastic coach and taught disabled children. Ricky states that he takes his endeavors outside of the ring very seriously.
"It's very important to me [working with charities and organizations outside of the ring]," Starks revealed. "I used to actually, before pro-wrestling, for a part-time job, I used to be a gymnastics coach. So I would go to different schools and it'd range from ages one to six. And so I would help kids with their motor skills and things like that, agility. It included some kids that actually had autism and other disabilities, so, to me, it's very important to go out and do these things just because I like to give back.
"It's cool to have an impact on someone else's life, you know. To them, I'm just a wrestler. But on the other side of it, this person now has a memory and they feel good, and they can understand that things can be done because they are hearing from someone that they may look up to or whatever the case may be. I work with Culture City when it comes to autism inclusion at our shows, and make sure that they have these sensory rooms, and people can enjoy wrestling without having to be so stressed out, you know, ultimately having a bad experience. The experience should always be good when it comes to wrestling."
Ricky Starks also opened up about being able to approach wrestlers such as Sting and Chris Jericho backstage to pick their brains.
"I just had a conversation with Sting like two weeks ago where I just went into his trailer and we talked," Starks said. "Sting is a great person to talk to about literally anything and he gives his own insight that he can from his past experience. Same thing with Chris [Jericho], and we just talked, and he doesn't talk to me like – I'm so used to people talking down on me and talking to me as if there's such a difference in levels of where we're at, that sometimes I don't always approach them when I should, so I've started to get out of that more.
"But Chris is great. Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, all of these people. Christian too, just working with him. All of these people I can gain so much. And honestly, that's all I ever wanted, like, I've always wanted just someone to give me knowledge. Punk is another dude that will watch my stuff. These people, they are willing to give, and that's always been my biggest thing is like, 'Man, I'm so hungry but people don't really look at me. I just fall through the cracks type thing.' So it's cool to be surrounded by these people."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.