Ricky Steamboat explains why he changed AEW angle with Ricky Starks

Originally posted on F4WOnline.com | By Ian Carey | Last updated 9/27/23

Ricky Steamboat says he didn't like the original idea pitched to him for his angle with Ricky Starks on AEW Collision.

Steamboat was a special referee for the August 5 match between Starks and CM Punk on the show. Starks attacked Steamboat after the match and whipped him with his own belt.

Steamboat recently told Bill Apter that the original creative plans had him fending off an attack from Starks and sending him scurrying up the ramp.

"They suggested an outcome that I didn't like. I said, 'Look, you're doing a slow turn with this kid, Ricky Starks, and trying to turn him heel and what you're suggesting, there's not going to be any heat on him. So I made the suggestion of what everybody saw and I said, 'I'd like to put some heat on this kid,'" Steamboat said.

"I was glad to do what I was able to do to help pass the torch and put some heat on Ricky Starks, you know, get it done," he continued.

"I wanted to get some heat on this kid and they had a result where everything would go down as it was and then as he would spin me around and try to take a shot, I would block it and give him some big chops and he'd take a bump through the ropes and to the floor and scurry up the ramp. It would be a happy, happy moment and I'm thinking, I said, 'Well, where's the heat there? Where's the heat for the kid?'"

"Plus the fact I'm 70 and they're going to say, 'God, Starks, a 70-year-old timer just whooped up on you.' I said, 'We got to turn this around to where he's got to catch me off guard and sucker me and get me down and do something to where it's almost to the point of disgusting and shameful."

The angle between Punk and Starks appeared as though it was building to a strap match between the two. However, Punk was released from AEW following a backstage altercation at AEW All In on August 27. Bryan Danielson replaced Punk in the angle and defeated Starks in a strap match at AEW All Out on September 3. Danielson then defeated Starks again on the September 23 AEW Collision in a Texas Deathmatch.