Tony Khan is "pissed" with popular AEW star amid rumors of his WWE move, believes Dutch Mantell

A top AEW star was recently pulled from GCW events by Tony Khan. And now, wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell has shared his take on the issue.

Ricky Starks has been absent from AEW television since earlier this year. That did not stop the Absolute from making a buzz in professional wrestling as he recently appeared on GCW and set up a match against Matt Cardona. However, in a shocking turn of events, it was reported that Tony Khan had pulled Starks from all of his upcoming GCW dates.

Speaking on his Storytime with Dutch Mantell podcast, the former WWE manager spoke about the issues between Tony Khan and Ricky Starks. Mantell felt that people in the Jacksonville-based promotion were "pissed" at the star but it wasn't the end of the world and that Khan and Starks would eventually work out their problems, despite recent controversies.

"I think they're kinda pissed with [Ricky] Starks right now because I think he has laid the ground work that he was going to WWE. There are some bad feelings I think between Tony [Khan] and Mr. [Ricky] Starks and ofcourse it'll work out. Nobody's gonna die or anything but you can read between the lines here," he said. [34:50 - 35:23]

Check out his comments in the video below:

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GCW owner reacts to AEW CEO Tony Khan pulling Ricky Starks from shows

In a recent edition of Game Changer Weekly, GCW owner and promoter Brett Lauderdale shared his thoughts on Tony Khan pulling AEW star Ricky Starks from his upcoming GCW dates.

Lauderdale called it a weird situation as Starks was an independent contractor and could theoretically work wherever he wanted. He also pointed out how the concept of 'independent contractors' in wrestling was failing to remain independent.

"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," he said.

Only time will tell if Tony Khan brings back Ricky Starks on All Elite Wrestling television soon.