Ricky Starks Hates AEW’s Backstage Drama Overshadowing What’s on TV

Ricky Starks is sick and tired of backstage drama overshadowing AEW storylines.

Starks appeared on the iHeartRadio’s latest Battleground Podcast to hype his match against Powerhouse Hobbs this Sunday at AEW All Out. The former FTW Champion says he’s got revenge on his mind. He sees this as a big test for himself and a big indicator about how much further he’s going to go.

He believes he was the face of Team Taz because, “no one else was going to step up, but someone had to.” Hobbs has a strong presence and is actually very intelligent and caring, which is what made them a good team. There was a genuine friendship there. Unfortunately, people get greedy. They get paranoid.

Starks says paranoia is one of the worst things in wrestling. You see it from the top of the card all the way down to the bottom. Sometimes, these issues get leaked due to the media and distract from the stories they’re trying to tell on television.

Ricky Starks was asked about the backstage environment in AEW. He says the dynamics have changed dramatically since the early days.

“The locker room has definitely changed,” he said. “Where we were once really really close, we’ve expanded that. We’re still close, we just have more people in the family now. More people that sit at the table.”

“I definitely think that the drama of the backstage stuff, while it does pique interest of people online & whatnot, I f***ing hate it. The reason I hate it is because it kind of overshadows some of the stuff that happens on TV and for that, I’d rather not be involved with it.”

Starks said certain people in AEW have “loose lips” and leak things to the media. He also warned that you can’t believe everything you read online, yet people do.

“But we have people backstage who have loose lips and that’s what happens. Now, we have created the scenario where we just have all the rumors and speculation. ‘Cause that’s all it is. I promise you what you read is not necessarily true.”