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A former AEW champion has revealed that Triple H called him personally to sign for WWE. The Stamford-based promotion has seen an influx of AEW talent jumping ship to join in recent years.
Many names, including Ethan Page, Blake Monroe (fka Mariah May) and Penta, have signed with the sports entertainment juggernaut after leaving Tony Khan's company.
Making an appearance on What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes, former AEW TNT Champion, Ricky Saints (fka Ricky Starks) revealed how he ended up signing with WWE.
"Triple H called me. Just got off a flight to Seattle actually, and he called me and I was just like, ‘Uh,’ like I didn’t know the number, and it didn’t say Stamford or anything. So, I was like who is this? And I always answer it. Even if it’s an unknown, I’ll always answer," he told Cody Rhodes. [15:40-15:56]
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Ricky's habit of answering unknown numbers led to a chaotic conversation with The Game. He revealed that due to the noise at the airport, he was barely able to hear him, but was able to make out that Triple H wanted to sign him. Ricky also said that WWE's CCO told him something about "RAW or SmackDown," but he quickly figured out what was happening.
"Basically, what he was saying was, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna put you on RAW or SmackDown just yet.’ I didn't know, I said ok. But he wanted me to meet Shawn (Michaels), and so that was like a big thing. I was like, ‘Of course I will. Yes, I would love that.’ That’s all I really wanted is just resources,” he added. [16:49-17:12]
Saints was released by AEW earlier this year and ended up signing with WWE soon after. He joined the NXT brand and quickly became a fan favorite.
On the April 1 episode of NXT, Saints defeated Shawn Spears to win his first title in WWE, capturing the North American Championship. He later dropped the title to Ethan Page.
Former AEW star Ricky Saints will challenge for the NXT North American title at the Great American Bash
Ethan Page has been a thorn in the side of Ricky Saints in NXT. The two have feuded over the North American Championship, with Page emerging victorious in their last match on the May 27 episode of the show.
Saints will have the chance to settle the score and win back the title at the Great American Bash PLE. The two will meet in a Falls Count Anywhere match on July 12 at the Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia.
Saints will hope for another taste of gold before he can move to bigger things in the company.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
