Chris Jericho’s former AEW rival refuses to join his faction

A top AEW star and former rival to Chris Jericho has refused to join the latter's faction. The talent in question is Ricky Starks.

Jericho recently re-invented his on-screen character, adopting the new gimmick of The Learning Tree. He defeated HOOK for the FTW Title at AEW Dynasty 2024 and found an ally in the form of Big Bill, who appealed to The Ocho to take him in as a protege and helped The Lionheart retain the FTW Championship against Katsuyori Shibata on last week's episode of Dynamite.

Prior to his pursuit of Jericho as a mentor, Big Bill had been tagging with Ricky Starks. The two men held the AEW World Tag Team Title together, which they went on to lose to Darby Allin and Sting. However, Starks has been absent from programming for a while now.

In the midst of his in-ring absence, a user on Twitter/X encouraged Starks to join his tag partner and become a student of The Learning Tree. The star voiced his opposition to the idea with a one-word response, seemingly keeping his rivalry with The Ocho alive.

"Stop," wrote Starks.

Check out the tweet below:

Starks and The Ocho have a storied history in AEW as the two have met in the ring on several occasions. Their most notable encounters came on a January 2023 episode of Dynamite and the 2023 Revolution pay-per-view. They were also on opposite sides in a tag team match in January this year.

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AEW's Ricky Starks provided an update on his health

Ricky Starks and Big Bill took on Dante and Darius Martin in the quarterfinal match of the AEW World Tag Team Title tournament. The bout ended in some controversy after Starks was seemingly injured during the match, with Top Flight advancing to the semi-finals.

The Louisiana native has been away from All Elite Wrestling television since then. Recently, reports claimed that Starks had been to Jacksonville, Florida for a checkup with AEW's medical staff. The former FTW Champion, however, took to social media himself to set the record straight on his health status.

Taking to X/Twitter, Starks revealed that his reported visit to Jacksonville had been for his yearly physical.

"Yeah because everyone had to do their annual physical."

Check out the tweet below:

He also clarified that he was not and never had been injured, writing:

"To ease anyone’s mind, I’m not injured. Never was. Pick another narrative pleaseeeee."

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Ricky Starks in All Elite Wrestling.