Real reason why Tony Khan pulled Ricky Starks from AEW TV - Reports

AEW star Ricky Starks has been in the headlines since last year. It was reported recently that Tony Khan rejected his request for a release and the reason for pulling Starks from television has also been provided in some recent reports.

The Absolute One has been off television since last year. He won the 2023 Owen Hart Cup and many believed that Ricky Starks was on his way to becoming a main event player. He later formed a tag team with Big Bill and went on to become AEW World Tag Team Champion. Shortly ater losing the title, Starks disappeared from television. He did make a shocking appearance in GCW last year. However, Ricky Starks was reportedly pulled from future events by Tony Khan due to Effy's comments.

According to a recent report by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was revealed that Tony Khan prefers to use talents who agree with his creative direction. Khan seemingly lost interest in Ricky Starks and moved on from using him on television due to his plans to leave the promotion.

"Tony Khan more and more if someone doesn’t want to do his creative, unless they are his top tier guys, he just stops using them with the idea there are tons of other people who are cooperative that want TV time. Plus, with Starks, once he was convinced Starks was leaving, he wasn’t going to book him going forward because that’s just how he does things."

Eric Bischoff advises Tony Khan to release AEW talent

Tony Khan has not been using some major names such as Ricky Starks, Rey Fenix, Miro, and more. These talents have also reportedly asked for their release but Khan has not granted it.

In a recent edition of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff asked Tony Khan to do the right thing and release the talents who are frustrated with their direction.

"If there's no plan to use him then for God's sake, I know money doesn't matter because Tony's not held accountable financially for anything, but damn, do the right thing. It's not like it's going to hurt your business Tony, just cut them loose, save the money, donate it." [H/T WrestlingInc.]

We will have to wait and see if Tony Khan releases the unused AEW stars in the upcoming months.