Ricky Starks To Call Out Ricky Steamboat On AEW Collision
Ricky Starks will show up on Saturday's "AEW Collision" and challenge wrestling legend Ricky Steamboat to a Strap Match at Sunday's All Out pay-per-view, according to AEW President Tony Khan. Shortly after last night's "AEW Dynamite," Khan took to Twitter to announce that Starks would be appearing in the midst of his 28-day storyline suspension, which was imposed on "Mr. Absolute" for his actions on the August 5 "Collision" where he attacked Steamboat after suffering a loss to CM Punk.
On that night, a frustrated Starks began whipping Steamboat with his own belt for allegedly costing him the match against Punk by breaking up his pinfall attempt when his feet were on the ropes. The momentary distraction allowed Punk to capitalize with a roll-up combination for the pinfall victory, further infuriating Starks, who proceeded to attack Steamboat after the match until Punk made the save.
Despite serving a 28-day suspension, Starks has been appearing on "Collision" in a managerial capacity, after he claimed to have secured a manager's license to manage other talents. As an example, Starks accompanied Big Bill to the ring for his match against Vary Morales on last week's show and even berated Steamboat in a post-match promo, promising to bring a "bigger strap" to this week's show as he whipped Morales with his belt.
As reportedly earlier, Starks was originally in line to wrestle CM Punk at All Out, possibly in the main event of the pay-per-view in Punk's hometown of Chicago. However, the match was nixed following Punk's alleged physical confrontation with Jack Perry at All In, which reportedly led to both wrestlers being suspended. According to other reports, Starks' 28-day storyline suspension was strategic in nature, seeing as he would have been cleared to return on September 3, the date of All Out.
However, Punk's altercation with Perry obviously threw a monkey wrench into AEW's plans. For what it's worth, AEW has yet to officially confirm Punk's suspension, meaning there's still a chance "The Second City Savior" works All Out.
This Saturday, September 2@UnitedCenter Chicago, IL
Saturday Night #AEWCollision
Live on TNT
8pm ET/7pm CTThis Saturday on @TNTdrama, Absolute @starkmanjones will appear LIVE on AEW Collision to challenge Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat to a strap match THIS Sunday at #AEWAllOut! pic.twitter.com/NXoESYvMUO
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) August 31, 2023