AEW: Ricky Starks Contract Update, Powerhouse Hobbs on His Recent Knee Injury & Feeling Depressed While Sidelined, Adam Cole on Being Excited for Daniel Garcia & AEW’s Future

Ricky Starks AEW Contract Status Update

As noted before, Ricky Starks has been out of action for AEW since this past March due to a head-injury scare incident and AEW officials not currently having any plans for his return. Starks made a surprise appearance for Game Changer Wrestling at their Dream On event this past Saturday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Starks was also in attendance backstage at AEW’s Full Gear 2024 later that day in Newark.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that their sources stated that Starks is still currently not factored into any of AEW’s officials creative plans or pitches.

Those spoken to within AEW reportedly stated that Starks’ contract contained an option year that was picked up by the company this past spring. It was reported that Starks’ contract is now currently set to expire in spring or summer of 2025 as a result.

It was reported that prior to AEW picking up the option year, it had been rumored that Starks was hoping to test the open market.

In regards to Starks’ attendance backstage at Full Gear 2024, it was reported that Starks was welcomed by others during his visit.

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Powerhouse Hobbs Comments on His Recent Knee Injury & Feeling Depressed While Sidelined

As noted before, Powerhouse Hobbs made his return to AEW from a knee injury earlier this month. Prior to his return, Hobbs had been out of action since this past April.

A recent episode of the AEW Close Up with Renee Paquette show featured Hobbs as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Hobbs’ thoughts about his recent knee injury and his reaction when it occurred.

“When the injury happened, it was a pop. I was shot over ten years ago and it felt just like that. We were in Daily’s Place and I was like, ‘Okay, nobody has a gun in here.’ I didn’t get shot, but I couldn’t extend my leg. I’m in the main event, national TV, IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Jon Moxley. The ref is checking on me. I’ve survived a lot of shit and I’m not going to die from this injury, so I tried my best to continue. It was one of those things where I look back at it, and for me personally I did the right thing. Maybe from a medical standpoint I should have said no, but my grandma and grandpa didn’t raise no punks. People paid to see me in action. I felt like I disappointed a lot of people.”

Hobbs also gave his thoughts about what was on his mind after he suffered an injury and dealing with depression issues while he was recovering.

“I was on a roll. Once the injury happened and I found out I was going to need surgery, the depression sunk in. I’ve been depressed before. When my brother got murdered, he pushed me out of the way and took six bullets to the chest. I took one to the forearm. All these feelings start coming back. All these ‘what ifs’ and ‘what am I going to do now?’ I didn’t know what I was going to do. Obviously, in our sport, people get injured, and things happen. For me, I’m greedy. I didn’t want to give up anything. If I could have taped my knee up and went, I would have done that. It’s one of those things where everyone is telling me that things happen for a reason. I didn’t want to hear anything. I didn’t give a shit about anybody, didn’t want to hear what they had to say. I knew where this could have taken my career. Watching my brother get murdered, it brought back all the feelings of ‘what if. what’s going to happen now?’ It brings a lot of anger in my heart.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Adam Cole Comments on Being Excited for Daniel Garcia & AEW’s Future

Q101 held a recent interview with Adam Cole. One of the topics discussed included Cole’s thoughts about his praise of Daniel Garcia’s rise as a star in AEW and Garcia being among those within AEW that makes him excited for the company’s future.

“Daniel Garcia is a big one for me. I think he is just unbelievably talented, so so good. Whether it’s in the ring, on the microphone, he has a hunger to want to be better and want to be as good as humanly possible. He really is, it’s amazing to watch his development. Danny Garcia definitely gets me really excited thinking about the future of AEW, he’s one that comes to mind.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com