34-year-old to finally return after 8 months to confront Jon Moxley on AEW Dynamite? Analyzing the possibility

Jon Moxley has waged war against the entire AEW locker room in recent months. He and the Death Riders have looked unstoppable as they have laid out several top stars. Orange Cassidy tried to stand up to him but failed at Full Gear. This leaves many people wondering who will stop the Purveyor of Violence from hurting more people.

The answer could lie in Ricky Starks. The former FTW Champion has the in-ring skills to stand up to Moxley and his crew. However, there is one glaring problem with this scenario: Starks has not been seen on AEW TV since March of this year, but he has been active outside the promotion.

The Absolute One has competed for other promotions. He even recently appeared for GCW, where he aired his frustration about not being used. Starks was also set to compete against Matt Cardona at GCW: Highest in the Room 3. However, it was recently reported that the former World Tag Team Champion has been pulled from that event and all other GCW events by AEW.

This could be a sign that Tony Khan finally has some plans to use Ricky Starks, and those plans could involve him being featured in a storyline against Moxley and the Death Riders. Starks could be a fine candidate to fight off the Death Riders since he hasn't been seen on TV in a while. Considering that Mox has run through everyone on the roster, the company needs someone who hasn't been seen in a while to face the AEW World Champion.

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Brett Lauderdale breaks silence on AEW star Ricky Starks being pulled from future GCW events

Ricky Starks' absence from AEW TV came suddenly. The Absolute One was a Tag Team Champion one minute, and the next, he was not on TV. This led many fans to believe that he was injured, which he debunked on social media. Then there were rumors around him leaving for WWE, which he again debunked. Despite his lack of booking, Starks decided to take matters into his own hands, and he made bookings in GCW. However, the Jacksonville-based promotion has now put a stop to this.

The owner and promoter of GCW, Brett Lauderdale, did an interview on a recent edition of Game Changer Weekly, where he addressed the situation surrounding Ricky Starks. He said that Starks is an independent contractor, which means he can work wherever he wants, but that's not the case in wrestling. He also said that if a talent tells him they can work a show, he assumes that everything is cleared.

"It's a weird situation because Ricky Starks is an independent contractor. This is a whole wrestling conversation that, one of these days, this is going to be tested and something is going to happen because theoretically an independent contractor is independent, and they can go and work wherever they want. In wrestling, these independent contractors don't seem to be very independent. They are at the whim of an employer, which makes it seem like they are an employee. It's above our pay grade. I'm just an indie wrestling company, and I don't have people under contract. These guys reach out to me. I like working with talented people, and I don't really get into their contract situation. If they make it to the point where they can appear on my show, I am to assume that everything is cleared. People don't traditionally breach contracts on this level of wrestling," said Lauderdale. [H/T: Fightful]

It will be interesting to see if Ricky Starks will make his return to Tony Khan's promotion.