His name my be different, but the man himself is not. Ricky Saints talks WWE NXT name change and AEW departure.

Former AEW star Ricky Starks discusses his new Ricky Saints moniker in WWE NXT, and why his hometown of New Orleans inspired his name change

Shortly after it was revealed that multiple AEW wrestlers were leaving the company, Ricky Starks made his shocking debut on WWE NXT entering through the crowd.

Ricky Saints (Ricky Starks in AEW) left AEW on February 10th when he was removed from the AEW roster page, becoming a free agent. One night later, Ricky appeared on NXT television. Ricky had been off AEW television since March 2024, but had been making independent appearances at the end of the year.

AEW released Ricky Starks and Miro after lengthy TV absences, setting the stage for WWE to add the two stars to their loaded roster.

Cody Rhodes imposed his own roadblock to the world championship, and maybe, seeing how WWE is using Penta, AEW could have done even more with him. There wasn’t the same feeling around Saints as there was for Brian Pillman Jr. and Ethan Page.

WWE has filed a new trademark for former AEW star Ricky Starks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On the February 18th episode of NXT,

Starks hasn't wrestled for AEW since March of last year, only wrestling five matches for the promotion in all of 2024. As Ricky revealed in an interview with ourselves last May - and more recently in a Chris Van Vliet chat - he hasn't been injured, he didn't know why he'd not been used more, and he was fit, healthy, and eager to work.

WWE looks to trademark Ricky Saints. One week after his stunning (and then nameless) debut on WWE NXT, Ricky Starks revealed his new name as Ricky Saints, the latter part of which is a nod to his hometown of New Orleans.

Ricky Starks has become one of the more popular names in the wrestling world after parting ways with AEW and quickly making the jump over to the WWE's NXT brand. It was during thi

Ricky Saints? Whew, the eye roll I did when I saw that name on the contract. That sounds like the off-brand version of Ricky Starks. Saints? No diss to anyone with that last name, but Saints? I know WWE likes branding and making things their own but sometimes they fix things that aren’t anywhere near broken.