All Elite Wrestling star Ricky Starks recently appeared on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast. The current member of Taz’s on-screen stable discussed a number of topics during the show; these included including how signed with AEW and being friends with The Undertaker.

“I didn’t re-sign with NWA, I told them ‘no thank you I’m, I’m good'” Starks began on the show. “Then this pandemic started. I remember watching AEW Dynamite. It was the night that Cody came out and said that he would be issuing an open challenge; and then he went on Twitter and said ‘this is open to anybody.'”

Ricky Starks’ first appearance in AEW was the aforementioned TNT Open Challenge issued by Cody Rhodes. Starks would outlay how the opportunity arose for him to get a shot at the title. “The next day Thursday I was at the gym, and this vision came to me, where I was like, ‘I could see myself walking out [on Dynamite]. I could see myself cutting this promo, and it just this huge thing right?”

“And so, that Sunday? I got a text message from from AEW saying ‘hey, there’s a opportunity here to challenge for the title, are you interested?'” Ricky Starks would continue. “The funny thing is? I thought that was just a one off thing. In my head? I thought I would wrestle, go back on the Indies and raise my rate, then build my stock.”

Starks would then state that he was shocked when he got the call to be signed, mainly because he wasn’t expecting any companies to be hiring during the pandemic.

“I didn’t think that they were hiring. I just, I figured ‘we’re in a pandemic no one’s hiring.’ So yeah, I came to the back [after the Cody match] and really didn’t hear much, just it was good, you know? Just a good reaction to the match, but that was it. And then when it aired? I got a call from Tony Khan and kind of went from there.”