Ricky Starks To Take On Former Partner On AEW Dynamite

Ricky Starks' AEW run started on the June 17, 2020, edition of "AEW Dynamite," after Starks unsuccessfully challenged Cody Rhodes for the AEW TNT Championship. Now, Rhodes is back with WWE, and Starks is a rising star in the promotion Rhodes founded.

In July 2021, Starks became the FTW Champion after defeating Brian Cage on Night One of Fyter Fest (Cage was an original member of Team Taz, formed and led by legendary ECW and WWE wrestler Taz). Starks would hold the title for over a year, finally losing it to Team Taz stablemate Hook on the July 27 edition of "Dynamite." Afterward, Starks was shockingly attacked by his tag team partner and the other member of Team Taz, Powerhouse Hobbs. The following week, Taz himself would officially dissolve the group.

While Starks surely has his sights set on getting revenge on Hobbs, before he can do that, another obstacle stands in his way, and it happens to be another of his former tag team partners — in this case, The Factory's Aaron Solo.

Starks and Solo came up through the Texas independent scene, primarily in the Austin-based WrestleCircus, but they didn't officially take on their tag team name, Extra Talented, until they traveled to the United Kingdom to work for PROGRESS in 2017. After that, the two teamed up for various promotions across the country, including their original stomping grounds in Texas, where they won WrestleCircus' Big Top Tag Team Championship, and even enjoyed a brief appearance on a 2018 episode of "WWE Raw," where they were squashed, somewhat ironically, by their co-workers Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, known in WWE at the time as The Revival. Their most recent team-up occurred in Austin in 2019.

Last week on "Dynamite," Starks was asked to join QT Marshal's stable, The Factory, which he refused. The confrontation led to the upcoming match between Starks and Solo, which will take place on tonight's special "Quake by the Lake" episode of "Dynamite."