A top AEW tag team has gone their separate ways, and a recent report has confirmed the reason behind the split. The tag team consists of Ricky Starks and Big Bill.
The duo formed a tag team in August 2023 after Ricky Starks obtained a manager's license and started managing Big Bill following his kayfabe suspension from the promotion. On the October 7, 2023, edition of Collision, Starks and Big Bill defeated FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) to capture the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
Their 123-day reign as World Tag Team Champions was ended by Sting and Darby Allin in a Tornado Tag Team Match on the February 7, 2024, episode of Dynamite. The duo's last tag team match took place on the March 30, 2024, episode of Collision, where they lost the AEW Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final to Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin). Interestingly, Starks has been absent from AEW TV since then.
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Speaking in a recent Q&A session on Fightful Select's podcast, Sean Ross Sapp revealed that Big Bill and Ricky Starks wanted to focus on their singles careers after losing the World Tag Team Title to Sting and Darby Allin.
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“I’m sure we’ll see Ricky [Starks] in AEW again. I know that both of these men [Big Bill and Ricky Starks] were ready to move on from this team as soon as they lost the tag title. I don’t even know; I don’t wanna say they did or didn’t want to do the tag tournament as well, but I know that both guys are ready to move on. Nothing against one another that I’ve heard; it’s just that I don’t think that either one really wanted to do that,” he said. [H/T:RingsideNews]
Tony Khan recently addressed Ricky Starks' absence from AEW
Ricky Starks has been absent since the March 30, 2024, episode of Collision. Meanwhile, Big Bill has aligned with The Learning Tree faction, which is led by FTW Champion Chris Jericho.
In a recent interview with SHAK Wrestling, Tony Khan praised the tag team of Ricky Starks and Big Bill and stated that he would love to have Starks back on All Elite Wrestling Television.
"I really, really like Ricky Starks a lot; the last time we saw him here was in the World Tag Team Championship Tournament. He and Big Bill formed a great team, and they were the World Tag Team Champions! I think Ricky Starks is tremendous! I'd love to get him involved and back in AEW anytime. He's been a huge part of what we've done here for about four out of five years, and tons of respect for Rico!" Tony Khan. [16:29-18:09]
Ricky Starks won last year's Owen Hart Foundation tournament. The tournament is set to return in July 2024. It will be interesting to see if Starks will be announced as one of the contestants in the coming weeks.
