Ricky Saints on His New NXT Ring Name in WWE & His Departure from AEW

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida featured former AEW talent Ricky Starks signing his official contract for WWE’s NXT brand and revealing his new ring name of “Ricky Saints.”

Following the show, Busted Open Radio After Dark held an interview with Saints. One of the topics discussed included Saints’ thoughts on his ring name change for his wrestling career in WWE and him wanting to pay tribute to his home city of New Orleans for the reason for the name change.

“It’s as close as you’re going to get to Starks. I like the name. I know a lot of people are going to be…it’s going to take time for them to get used to it. I respect that they care so deeply about me that they rebel against the name change. But at the same time, I am a product of New Orleans, first and foremost, and I want to pay respect to that as well. I think this is the best of both worlds and that means a lot to me. Obviously I think it’s cool to have a piece of home with me. And the person doesn’t change. I’m still that guy, so it is what it is.”

Saints also gave his thoughts about his recent departure from AEW and denying the rumors of it being due to him attending WWE’s Royal Rumble or WrestleMania events while under AEW contract nor him rejecting or sabotaging AEW’s creative plans for him in the company.

“I don’t know the specifics of what it was. Some people, you ask the internet, it was because you were at the Rumble. Screw you. The footage got leaked from me being at the Rumble. I wasn’t backstage…I left after the first match. Some could say well, you were at Mania in a suite and you got on camera cheering. Screw you. You’re an idiot with no friends and no passion in life if you think the damndest thing I’ve done is cheering somebody on in another company…my boss was okay with it.

I can’t tell you exactly what the moment was. You could say it was Punk leaving and things kinda fell apart. Absolutely, I probably agree with you on that, alright? Or you could say is that Ricky didn’t play the politics well enough. Alright, for sure…there’s so many things you can say. What I can say for myself is that when I got hurt in March, that was it, I never came back. And even then, I wasn’t hurt, it was a precaution thing where I got scared as I had a stinger. Then I was fine. After that, no, no dice, no communication. No nothing. And that is okay because….I ended up here. And it’s fine. Everything worked out. I don’t know explicitly where it went wrong, I can’t point to one thing. I can say it was a storm of things probably. Did I do something that may have tipped them off? Sure, asking for my release whenever you know, this past whatever, that could have been about it right?  But never once was I not willing to do something, never once was I sabotaging anything.”

Starks also gave his thoughts about the reasons why he asked for his release from AEW.

“It’s like trying to find love in the same place that you lost it. It’s just not possible. It’s not possible. At a certain point, it’s not possible anymore. At a certain point, you have to be honest with yourself and that’s where I was at with it… No (it was not scary asking for AEW release) and I’ma tell you why: Any decision I make, I’ve already gone through the consequences of it in my head. I have always betted on myself. I betted on myself with NWA, when I left. I betted on myself with this situation. I will always bet on myself, I will always think highly of myself, okay? I have gotten here. 14 years, on my own. Didn’t have a hand out nor a name to put a good word in for me. Everything was done by me, by myself and that’s how it’s gonna be until I’m dead. So, no, it wasn’t scary. What it was-was this was just at the point where it only made sense to me. ‘Hey, nothing’s happening. Let’s just be done. Let’s just quietly be done’ and then for some reason, all my information gets leaked.”

In response to co-host Bully Ray on if the reason for his departure was due to a personal or professional reason, Starks gave his thoughts about his belief that it was personal over “some people who stuck their nose in my creative business.”

“I will say this, there are some people who stuck their nose in my creative business that shouldn’t have happened. Veterans. And that’s it, I’ll leave it at that. And if they got a problem with me, they got my number. And text me about it. I think what it was is if it didn’t work for their creative, then someone had to get the boot. That’s how I see it. But I’m not trying to be negative in my thought process about it…if you want to step on me to get ahead in your illustrious career, everyone has an illustrious career. Everyone should have an illustrious career. That is perfectly fine. But at the same time, I’m not wet behind my ears.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com, PostWrestling.com