"He knows he's gone," "He's lying" - Fans react to Tony Khan's recent comments about absent AEW star

AEW celebrated its 5th anniversary at Double or Nothing last month, and a new TV deal is expected to be announced soon. However, 2024 isn't all positivity and significant milestones as the company made its first set of mass releases, and several top stars have also left in recent months. Fans are now weighing in on Tony Khan's recent comments on one of the mysteries surrounding the roster.

Ricky Starks has not competed on television since late March. While it was recently revealed that big creative plans were nixed due to his absence, the self-proclaimed Stroke Daddy finally broke his silence by issuing a major update to the media. It took Khan 15 days, but he finally addressed Starks during an interview with SHAK Wrestling of CBS News. The AEW-ROH owner praised Ricky and his tag team with Big Bill, and professed his respect for the former FTW Champion.

Khan also labeled the 34-year-old as tremendous and said he'd "love to get him involved and back in AEW anytime." Khan added that Starks has been "a huge part of what we've done here for about four out of five years."

Starks is expected to join WWE, at least according to numerous fans who are reacting to Khan's comments on X. With close to 200 replies to a certain headline tweet, the majority are negative criticism aimed at the All Elite President.

Several AEW fans were not buying Khan's stance on Starks' status, directly calling him out after realizing that he knows everything as the owner. Check out a few of the reactions below:

While fans shared their various opinions on Khan's Starks remarks, the general consensus is that he was not being honest as the owner of the company. Check out a few more reactions:

"Tony famously told Ariel Helwani that he 'won’t answer' questions 'unless it serves him.' I think this is him Trying to improve on that aspect of the role. I give him credit for at least trying but my goodness. You can’t imply you don’t have the authority when people know you do. People don’t like that, Tony," one fan wrote.

"Tony talks and acts as if he thinks he’s in Kayfabe 24/7," another chimed in.

"Tony runs the show, books the show, and all decisions go through him. No one besides himself is stopping Ricky Starks from being involved with the company," commented a fan.

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AEW's Ricky Starks on supporting his WWE friends

Ricky Starks is signed to All Elite Wrestling. He's also good friends with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Jade Cargill.

Absolute Starks took some negative feedback from fans earlier this year after attending the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XL to support his friends, Cody and Jade. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion recently spoke to WhatCulture and dismissed any criticism surrounding his support for friends in another company.

"It's no different than seeing Swerve Strickland win his title at Dynasty, or me seeing Jade freakin' have a tag match [at WrestleMania]... there's no difference, so I'm gonna continue to support my friends at whatever company, because... who gon' tell me otherwise? Who am I hurting? What village am I pillaging? Like, who cares?" Ricky Starks said. [From 20:57 to 21:24]

Starks went on to discuss how close he is with Cargill and what his WrestleMania experience was like. Starks, Rhodes, and Cargill are open about their friendship on social media and have been since before Cody and Jade left for WWE.