"Someone check on Tony Khan," "THIS IS NOT A DRILLL" - Former AEW star's jaw-dropping WWE debut leaves fans in disbelief

A former AEW star made his WWE debut tonight and fans have been reacting to the new signee of the global sports entertainment juggernaut. Ricky Starks appeared at the latest NXT episode and shook the landscape of the Shawn Michaels-led brand.

The Absolute star was part of AEW but wasn't given the spotlight in a while. The star was pushed to the moon in 2023, wrestled for a couple of months in 2024, and wasn't featured on any show since March last year. Fans have been requesting his release for many months as Tony Khan refused to use him on TV. After months of being underutilized, he was finally released by AEW a couple of days ago.

On tonight's WWE NXT episode, Ricky Starks debuted through the crowd and called himself the 'hottest free agent.' Fans in the arena chanted his name.

Fans on social media went into a frenzy as the former AEW star made his debut. Many claimed that the appearance happened too quickly as the star wasn't released only a few days back.

Take a look at some of the reactions below:

Fans react to Ricky Starks' NXT debut on X.

It will be interesting to see if Triple H and Co. sign more former AEW stars in WWE now.