The All Out Strap match and Big Bill were discussed by Ricky Starks.
Guest appearing on the Black Rasslin’ Podcast was Ricky Starks. At one point in the conversation, Starks was asked to name a match or matches that he considers to be standout performances from this year.
He named the Strap match versus Bryan Danielson from AEW All Out. Starks said the circumstances leading up to it were chaotic and a point of frustration for him. He had no expectations for the match, adding that he learned Danielson’s arm was not 100 percent.
Starks stated that the reception to the match was overwhelming and that response caused something in him to wake up that had been dormant. Starks said he cut a promo after the match in his rawest form and he hopes AEW posts the full video one day.
The Strap match (with Bryan Danielson stands out for me this year). The Strap match, while — here’s the truth about it: That the circumstances leading up to the Strap match was very chaotic and a point of frustration for me. If you saw that Collision, I went out and started the show with a very heartfelt message that I wanted to get to people and it wasn’t me whining and complaining. It was more of a message of look, even somebody like me, even somebody who is dedicated and puts in the work, takes the steps back due to outside sources, right? That match in itself was — I had no expectations for it. Didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought Bryan is a great dude. Didn’t realize his arm was still kind of injured or something so that was something to keep in mind and afterwards, the reception of it was so overwhelming for me that on the flight home, I was looking through my text messages and it’s just a lot of people, a lot of people were just like, ‘Man! That was amazing’ and boom, boom and it really touched something into me where I kind of found myself again a bit. Not saying that I lost myself, but something that was dormant kind of woke back up, right? And I felt so inspired and you know, was just moved by it because I didn’t have any expectations about it and I went out there and I gave it a thousand percent and I put everything that I had into it to the point where I was just so exhausted and there’s a promo that I cut after that, it was four minutes long and they didn’t really use it. They chopped it up a bit but I really hope that they post it one day because you see me in the rawest form and once you see it, I think you’ll get a lot of — that’s what I mean by being misunderstood. You know all the things that people don’t get? That’s what I’m referring to. (It) isn’t about just woe is me. It’s more than that, it’s more than just wrestling. But, that match itself is so great and it’s hard. When you have great matches like that, it’s hard to — you have the need to try to top it. But some things just can’t be topped. Some things are at its pinnacle point and they exist there and then you can have another space to put it right by, you know, next to it. You never need to have to take one out and replace it. That’s why an egg carton has as many (holders) as it has…
Starks is currently one-half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions with Big Bill. He touched on their dynamic and said him and Bill barely know one another but they’re working on that.
An hour before the interview was recorded, Starks found out Bill is engaged to AEW/ROH backstage interviewer and correspondent, Lexy Nair. Starks went on to say that him and Bill are not tag team wrestlers. He said they’re singles wrestlers that came together under ‘weird circumstances’ but they’re doing well.
Me and Big Bill barely know each other. He don’t even know my birthday, I don’t know his. But we get along and we’re Tag Team Champions, you know what I’m saying? That’s the beauty of it. I barely know this man from Schmit and we are Tag Team Champions and we got people who are literal blood brothers, people who have been friends for 10 years, they can’t win a match to save their life. So, that’s that but Bill is great. I think Bill is cool as hell. I’m getting to know him. We got together, saw him at an airport, had a cup of coffee. I said, ‘You cool man. I’ll catch you at work’ and that’s how it started. From what I know and I talk to him and stuff like that, he’s got some good style. Check out the Timbs.
I just found out he was engaged maybe an hour ago. I didn’t even know that.
I’m not a tag team wrestler. I’m the Tag Team Champion, but I’m not a tag team wrestler and I want that to be clear and that’s the same thing with Bill. Bill isn’t a tag team wrestler. We are two singles guys that have come together under some weird circumstances, starting at All In but, we made it and we’re doing the damn thing…
Since winning the Tag Titles, Starks and Bill have one successful defense against Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta. On the 10/28 AEW Collision, Starks scored a singles win over Dax Harwood.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Black Rasslin’ Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
