Richard Starks (born February 21, 1990) is an American professional wrestler. As of February 2025, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Ricky Saints and is the current NXT Championship in his first reign. He is also known for his work with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2020 to 2025.
Starks began his career as Ricky Starks in 2012 and worked on several independent promotions. In 2018, he began to work with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he was the inaugural holder of the revived NWA World Television Championship. In 2020, he left NWA for AEW where he worked until 2025. With AEW, Stark became part of Team Taz, where he won the FTW Championship. After leaving the stable, he won the Owen Hart Cup tournament and the AEW World Tag Team Championship once. He left AEW in 2025 and signed with WWE soon after, being assigned to NXT, where he worked under the name Ricky Saints, winning the NXT North American Championship. He became NXT Champion at NXT No Mercy 2025, defeating Oba Femi.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2012–2018)
Starks idolized wrestlers including
The Undertaker,
Dwayne Johnson, and
Mick Foley, among many others, while growing up watching professional wrestling. Around the age of seventeen, Starks decided he would pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Before signing with
WWE, Starks worked four matches for the promotion as an enhancement talent, losing against wrestlers like
Jinder Mahal, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, Kane and The Revival (
Dax Harwood and
Cash Wheeler),
before debuting for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Velocity Pro Wrestling on October 14, 2012 at the NWA Velocity Haunted Havoc event in Austin, Texas. There, he wrestled in a triple threat match against Jaykus Plisken and Big Ricky. Since 2012, Starks became a regular talent featured across numerous promotions in the state of
Texas, like Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Inspire Pro Wrestling. He appeared in a
WWE backstage video on the July 29, 2013 episode of
WWE Raw, where he was bullied, mocked, and slammed through a table by
Ryback.
Starks again made an appearance on the March 19, 2018 episode of
Raw as a US Marshal, arresting
Roman Reigns, only for Starks to be attacked by Reigns.
National Wrestling Alliance (2018–2020)
Starks made his debut for National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) at the NWA 70th Anniversary Show on October 21, 2018, competing in a
Four-way match against
Jay Bradley, Mike Parrow and
Willie Mack, which Mack won.
He returned on the October 15, 2019 episode of
NWA Power, defeating
Trevor Murdoch.
At Into the Fire on December 14, Starks competed in a
three-way match against
Aron Stevens and NWA National Champion
Colt Cabana for the title, where Stevens won.
Soon after, Starks entered the tournament to crown the inaugural champion of the revived NWA World Television Championship at Hard Times on January 24, 2020,
where he defeated
Eddie Kingston in the first round, Matt Cross in the second round,
Tim Storm in the semi-finals and Trevor Murdoch in the finals to become the new NWA World Television Champion.
Starks lost the title two days later to
Zicky Dice, which was aired on the March 3 episode of
NWA Powerrr due to
Broadcast delay.
On May 18, it was announced that Starks was no longer with the NWA as his contract had expired.
All Elite Wrestling (2020–2025)
Team Taz (2020–2022)
On the June 17, 2020 episode of
AEW Dynamite, Starks made his unannounced debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he answered
Cody Rhodes's open challenge for the AEW TNT Championship in a losing effort.
After the match, AEW CEO
Tony Khan announced that Starks had signed with the promotion.
On the June 30 episode of
AEW Dark, Starks picked up his first victory in AEW by defeating
Griff Garrison while quickly establishing himself as a heel.
On the July 21 episode of
Dark, after defeating Will Hobbs, Starks aided
Brian Cage in attacking Robert Anthony and
Darby Allin after their match, creating an alliance between the two.
The team, managed by Taz and now known as
Team Taz, began feuding with Allin as they faced Allin and
Jon Moxley on the July 29 episode of
Dynamite where they were defeated.
At the All Out pay-per-view on September 5, Starks participated in the Casino Battle Royale, but he was eliminated by Allin.
On the November 18 episode of
Dynamite, Will Hobbs would join Starks, Taz, and Cage's alliance after he struck Cody with Cage's
FTW Championship belt and then assisted them in attacking both Allin and Cody as well.
On the December 2 episode of , Starks and Hobbs, the latter now known as Powerhouse Hobbs, would lose a tag team match to Cody and Allin, after which, Sting made his AEW debut and ran Team Taz off after a post-match attack.
On the January 20 episode of
Dynamite, it was announced that Starks and Brian Cage would be facing Allin and Sting in a street fight at Revolution, a
cinematic match that Starks and Cage ultimately lost.
On July 14, 2021, on night one of Fyter Fest, Starks won the FTW World Championship from Brian Cage, winning his first championship in AEW, although the FTW title is not an officially sanctioned championship in the company.
On an episode of
AEW Rampage, Starks defeated Cage in a Philly street fight. Starks would qualify for the "Face of the Revolution"
ladder match by defeating Preston "10" Vance, but would fail to win the match at Revolution. In September 2021, in addition to still being a wrestler on the show, Starks joined the
Rampage commentary team, replacing
Mark Henry.
On the July 20, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Starks issued an open challenge for his FTW Championship, where he defeated Cole Karter. After the match, he issued another open challenge for the following week's Dynamite, which was answered by Danhausen. At Fight for the Fallen on July 27, 2022, Starks issued an open challenge immediately after defeating Danhausen. It was answered by Team Taz teammate Hook, who defeated him for the title, ending Starks's reign at 378 days, making him the longest-reigning FTW Champion at the time. After a impassioned post-match promo by Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs attacked him, turning Starks face.
Championship pursuits and departure (2022–2025)
On the Thanksgiving Eve special episode of
Dynamite on November 23, Starks defeated
Ethan Page in the finals of an AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament to face AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman at for the title.
Two weeks later, on the December 7 edition of
Dynamite, Starks competed in the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale, last eliminating Ethan Page to add the Dynamite Diamond Ring as a second prize to his AEW World Championship match.
The following week on
Dynamite, Starks and Friedman faced off in a heated promo, with Starks insulting Friedman's cheap tactics of gaining acclaim, compared to the hard work Starks put in, resulting in Friedman hitting Starks with a low blow, only for Starks to retaliate with a spear, knocking Friedman down.
At Winter is Coming, MJF defeated Starks to retain the AEW World Championship and winning Starks' Dynamite Diamond Ring.
Following this loss, Starks entered a feud with Chris Jericho, who attempted to recruit Starks into his Jericho Appreciation Society (JAS) group on the December 22 edition of Dynamite, but failed as Starks declined, insulting Jericho and JAS members Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia in the process. This led to JAS member Jake Hager attacking Starks along with the remainder of the group until Starks was saved by Action Andretti, who was also feuding with the JAS.
Starks then began a feud with Juice Robinson, who attacked Starks on the March 8 edition of Dynamite.
On the October 7 episode of Collision, Starks and Big Cass won their first AEW championship by defeating FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) to become the new AEW World Tag Team Champions.
Independent circuit (2024–2025)
On November 23, 2024, Starks debuted in Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) at GCW Dream On, where he cut a promo stating that "I'd I will be damned if I sit at home and let my career dwindle". Later that night, GCW announced that Starks would face
Matt Cardona at GCW Highest in the Room on December 14.
Several days later, GCW announced that Starks had been pulled from all upcoming appearances.
On December 29, Starks appeared in
DEFY Wrestling at DEFY Blueprint to challenge DEFY World Champion
Kenta Kobayashi for the title at DEFY Hundredth on February 7, 2025,
where he went on to defeat Kenta for the title.
On January 17, Starks made his debut for House of Glory (HOG) at HOG Watch The Throne, where he unsuccessfully challenged
Mike Santana for the HOG Heavyweight Championship.
On February 28, Starks relinquished the DEFY World Championship after signing with WWE, ending his reign at 21 days.
WWE (2025–present)
Starks returned to WWE on the February 11, 2025 episode of
WWE NXT as an unnamed free agent, adopting the ring name
Ricky Saints soon after.
On the February 25 episode of
NXT, Saints teamed with Je'Von Evans to defeat
Ethan Page and
Wes Lee in a tag team match.
On the April 1 episode of
NXT, Saints defeated
Shawn Spears to win the NXT North American Championship. During his celebration, Saints was attacked by Page to start a feud for the title.
At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 19, Saints successfully defended the title against Page.
On the May 27 episode of
NXT, Saints lost the title to Page in a rematch, ending his reign at 56 days and suffering a laryngeal contusion.
On July 12 at NXT The Great American Bash, Saints failed to regain the title from Page in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
At No Mercy on September 27, Saints defeated
Oba Femi to win the
NXT Championship.
Professional wrestling style and persona
Starks has referred to his style as a "pastiche" of other wrestlers, most notably
The Undertaker's selling and
Shinjiro Otani.
Dan Allanson of
Pro Wrestling Torch agrees, describing Starks' in-ring style as a mix of the Undertaker and
Bret Hart, while his persona is a throwback to self-confident
Attitude Era stars such as
Dwayne Johnson and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Starks uses an Inverted powerbomb dubbed the "Rochambeau" as a finishing manoeuvre.
Personal life
Starks grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and was raised by a single mom with two siblings.
Starks has spoken on a number of occasions about his frustrations that people often do not realise he is
African-American (Starks has described himself as "
High yellow"),
something that was a source of bullying and fights in his childhood.
Filmography
Television
|
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| 2021 | Rhodes to the Top | Himself | |
Championships and accomplishments
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All Elite Wrestling
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AEW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with W Morrissey
-
FTW Championship (1 time)
[
]
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AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament (2022)
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Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale (2022)
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Men’s Owen Hart Cup (2023)
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Anarchy Championship Wrestling
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ACW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
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ACW Televised Championship (1 time)
-
ACW Unified Championship (1 time)
-
DEFY Wrestling
-
DEFY World Championship (1 time)
-
Dojo Pro Wrestling
-
Dojo Pro White Belt Championship (1 time)
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ESPN
-
Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year (2022)
-
Imperial Wrestling Revolution
-
IWR Revolutionary Championship (1 time)
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Inspire Pro Wrestling
-
Inspire Pro Championship (1 time)
-
Inspire Pro Junior Crown Championship (1 time)
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Inspire Pro Pure Prestige Championship (1 time)
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National Wrestling Alliance
-
NWA World Television Championship (1 time, inaugural)
-
NWA World Television Championship Tournament (2020)
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NWA Houston
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NWA Lone Star Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
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Pro Wrestling Illustrated
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Ranked No. 73 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2025
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VIP Wrestling
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VIP Tag Team Championships (1 time) – with Carson
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VIP Tag Team Championship Tournament (2015)
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WrestleCircus
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WC Big Top Tag Team Championships (1 time) – with
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WWE
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Xtreme Championship Wrestling
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XCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, final)
External links
