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Backstage news regarding Ricky Starks’ debut with the WWE NXT brand

Aaron Rift

As seen during the February 11th 2025 edition of NXT, former AEW Ricky Starks made his debut with WWE. WWE has not mentioned Starks’ name on social media as the YouTube title of his debut is “The NXT debut that shocked the world” with the description of the video stating: “A new competitor arrives in NXT and promises to turn NXT upside down.” Fightful Select was told that the fans chanting his name “was the expected reaction and that not mentioning him by name wasn’t an accident. However, we’ve not been told why specifically that is.”

Starks’ WWE deal was said to have come quickly although the company had known about him potentially being released from his contract. As of December, nobody in WWE had communicated interest to Starks, but those Fightful spoke with believed he would be signed once he was legally available. In August of 2024, it reported that WWE had “significant interest” in Starks.

In regards to why Starks has started with NXT and not on RAW or Smackdown, Fightful noted that “those we spoke to on the main roster said that they believe the majority of creative heading into Wrestlemania is planned, and NXT would be much more fluid working him into the fold.” Word of Starks being part of the show reportedly circulated around the Performance Center about 30 minutes prior to the broadcast.

Sirius XM shared a video of The Undertaker and Bully Ray’s live reactions to Starks’ WWE debut.