Richard Starks is an American professional wrestler signed with AEW. He is a former FTW World Champion. He is best known as Ricky Starks for his work with NWA and AEW.
Starks began wrestling in 2013. During his early years, Starks made several appearances for WWE as an enhancement of talent and jobber on RAW, SmackDown, and NXT. Apart from his WWE appearances, Starks wrestled for Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Inspire Pro Wrestling.
In late 2018, Starks made his NWA debut and lost. In 2019, he made his return and defeated Trevor Murdoch. After a few months, At the Hard Times event, Starks became the new NWA Television Champion. A few weeks later, he lost the title to Zicky Dice.
In June, he faced Cody Rhodes during the TNT open challenge and lost. After the match, Starks was announced as part of the roster and signed with the company. In July, Starks began teaming up with Brian Cage to face Darby Allin and Jon Moxley. He officially joined Team Taz with Cage. In November, Powerhouse Hobbs joined the stable.
At Winter is Coming, Starks and Hobbs lost to Allin and Rhodes. At Revolution, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks lost to Sting and Darby Allin. At Double or Nothing, he interfered in a match between Brian Cage and Adam Page. At Fyter Fest, he defeated Brian Cage to win the FTW World Championship. After feuding with Brian Cage, the stable feuded with Dante Martin and Lio Rush.
In 2022, Starks began feuding with Keith Lee. At Revolution, Starks entered the Face of the Revolution ladder match and lost. Starks went on to feud against Keith Lee and his partner Shane Strickland alongside Powerhouse Hobbs. The duo competed in a three-way match for AEW World Tag Team Championship which Starks and Hobbs lost.
At Fight For The Fallen on July 27, 2022, Ricky Starks lost his FTW World Championship to Hook bringing an end to the record 378 days title reign.
