5 AEW wrestlers who lost to WWE Superstars in under 3 minutes

#4 Ricky Starks - Many encounters with WWE before his AEW signing

Many consider Ricky Starks to be one of AEW's brightest future stars. Even though Starks wrestled for nine years before joining AEW, he considers himself a homegrown talent of the promotion.

Be that as it may, the nine years prior to his AEW signing saw him go through a lot of ups and downs, the latter particularly during his encounters with WWE. His first opportunity came in 2012 as an enhancement talent against Jinder Mahal, where he was squashed by the future WWE champion.

Speaking to Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone on AEW Unrestricted, Starks spoke about his squash match in WWE a year into his wrestling career:

“I think my first enhancement match was back in 2012, a year after I started wrestling. I think that was against Jinder Mahal on SmackDown in Houston, and that was cool to just have that experience,” Starks stated. “Obviously, when you’re younger and doing stuff like that you’re like, ‘oh this is it. This is how I’m getting my big break.’ Obviously, it didn’t turn out like that. That was the first start of that, and then, as the years went on, I started to do more with them. (H/T WrestlingInc)

Starks would have numerous enhancement talent appearances over the years, and even had a five-minute match with WWE legend Kane. AEW worked out for him, and that seemed to be the best option following his disappointing WWE trial in 2017.

Starks and Sammy Guevara were in the same WWE trial, and the latter, who is now the AEW TNT Champion, said that he knew Vince McMahon's company wasn't the place for him.

Starks shares a similar sentiment, but admits that he was disappointed because WWE was his childhood dream. However, he has come a long way in his career, and AEW is the perfect fit for him now.