"I outshine pretty much everyone" - Ricky Starks makes bold claim ahead of title defense at AEW Rampage

Ricky Starks has held the FTW Championship for nearly a year. The star, alongside Team Taz, turned on former member Brian Cage to make sure he lost the title.

While the championship itself isn't officially recognized, it's a symbol of pride for Taz and Starks. On Friday, the Louisiana-born wrestler will defend his title against newly signed Shane "Swerve" Strickland.

The FTW Champion took to Twitter to proclaim that he outshines every other wrestler ahead of his upcoming title defense.

"Don’t need you to tell me I look like a star. I outshine pretty much everyone on that front." - Starks tweeted.

The Absolute One calls Texas his second home and will have home-field advantage at Rampage. But Strickland is undefeated, and a loss this early would be shocking for the former WWE star. Fans will have to catch Rampage to see if Stark's claim proves true.

You can catch up on the full results of AEW Dynamite via this link.

Keith Lee wants to "Drag Ricky Starks out of Team Taz"

During an appearance on AEW Unrestricted, Keith Lee was asked which current AEW star he'd like to team up with. Lee surprisingly picked Starks as his ideal partner. The two have had brawls and heated backstage segments in recent times.

"I think if I was in a tag team, the thing is I don’t know everybody [in AEW] yet, but I think I'd try and drag Ricky Starks out of Team Taz and use him as a couple of Texas boys, and I think we'd have an interesting dichotomy as a team." (H/T - PostWrestling)

Starks has clearly impressed the former WWE star, as it's very rare for a wrestler to praise his current foe. Ricky is yet to be involved in a major feud in AEW, which could be a result of his scary neck injury.

Do you see Ricky Starks coming out on top at this week's AEW Rampage? Sound off in the comments below.