Vince Russo's honest opinion of WWE signing Ricky Starks (Exclusive)

Modified Feb 15, 2025 09:36 GMT

Ricky Starks made his WWE debut on NXT (Image via WWE.com).

Ricky Starks is the latest superstar to jump ship from AEW to WWE. The Absolute showed up out of nowhere during NXT this week.

Both the announcers and Starks seemingly refrained from using his name during the promo. He simply boasted that the crowd clearly knew who he was as they chanted his name.

During a recent episode of BroDown on Backstage Pass, Vince Russo gave his opinion of WWE signing Starks to a contract, claiming he may be over with the NXT crowd, but Starks wasn't a "casual fan draw."

"Ricky Starks is over with that bubble. He's not a casual fan draw. I mean, he's just not. So, okay in the bubble, it's a big deal. But you've already got those people in the bubble."

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He continued:

"So, you know, everyone we're talking about, they're not a Cena or Batista or a Rock. They're not mainstream. They're never going to, you know, appeal to casual fans. So again, man, we just keep playing to this audience that we already have." [36:22 onwards]

Ricky Starks hasn't been announced for WWE Vengeance Day at the time of this writing. It remains to be seen if he appears in some capacity at NXT's upcoming Premium Live Event.

Watch more live and exclusive content from Vince Russo, Chris Featherstone and more only by subscribing to Backstage Pass on Patreon.

About the author

Manik Aftab writes Exclusive articles for Sportskeeda Wrestling’s WWE division. A BA (Hons) in English Literature helped him improve his writing skills before starting his career as a pro wrestling writer.

Before joining Sportskeeda, Aftab worked for Ringside News and The Sportster, where his wrestling articles and feature pieces consistently ranked on the first page of Google SERPs.

He prioritizes accuracy, relevance, and ethics in his reporting by conducting thorough research, verifying sources, and adhering to professional journalistic standards.

While Aftab’s favorite wrestler in AEW is Hangman Adam Page, he doesn’t have a favorite in WWE yet. However, he considers Stone Cold Steve Austin to be the greatest professional wrestler of all time. His earliest memory of watching pro wrestling was when The Rock faced The New Age Outlaws in a handicap match, but it was the John Cena vs. Edge match from Unforgiven 2006 that got him hooked. If given the chance to manage a star from the Attitude Era, he would choose The British Bulldog, as he believes Davey Boy Smith was a terrific worker and could've benefitted from having a mouthpiece for his lack of mic skills.

When not watching pro wrestling, Aftab enjoys reading science fiction and watching anime.

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Edited by Rahul Madurawe