Ricky Starks Makes DEFY Wrestling Appearance, Stares Down KENTA

Ricky Starks made a surprise appearance at DEFY Wrestling’s Blueprint show on December 29, with the long-absent AEW star making a beeline for DEFY Champion KENTA.

KENTA successfully defended his title against Schaff in the show’s main event, before Starks made his unannounced arrival. The two went face-to-face in the middle of the ring, before the Bullet Club hell raiser simply hoisted his title in the air, then departed.

There’s no word on when or indeed if the two will meet in singles competition, although DEFY’s upcoming eighth anniversary show on February 17 2025 would be as good a time and place as any.

Starks is set to face former AEW colleague Mike Santana at House of Glory in January, with a planned run for Starks in GCW recently scrapped seemingly due to comments made about AEW President Tony Khan by GCW star Effy.

‘Absolute’ wrestled his one and only DEFY match in July 2018, a loss to Schaff at DEFY Loud in Seattle, Washington. Starks’ AEW status has been the subject of much chatter for the past year, with Starks having not wrestled for the promotion since March 2024. Since then the former AEW World tag team Champion has wrestled just twice on the indies, with his last match coming in late November.

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