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Undertaker praises Ricky Starks, reacts to WWE NXT debut

Posted: Feb 13th 2025 By: Ian Carey

The Undertaker says Ricky Starks’ WWE NXT debut last night caught him off guard

While last night’s episode aired, Taker was interviewed by Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio with NXT on in the background. When Taker noticed Starks’ debut, it led to a discussion about how they first met.

Taker shared that they met at a gym in 2015, and years later, Starks helped his wife, Michelle McCool, train for her Royal Rumble return.

Taker said:

“Yeah, so I’m training at this gym. I noticed this kid is there every day. Doesn’t say anything, really respectful. As the training went along and we needed different spotters and different help, he was always like right there. Finally, we struck up a conversation and he told me that he was trying to break in the business and I’d kind of talked to him about different things.”

“For one of the Rumbles where Michelle was a surprise guest, she wanted to get in the ring, so he came down and trained with her. And I’ve seen him a few times here and there, and I’ve always had great, great conversations with him. He’s such a good kid, such a respectful kid.”

Reacting to Starks’ debut, Taker said it took him by surprise.

“Yeah, so that caught me completely off guard. I hadn’t seen him in probably a year, year and a half maybe. And then I just looked up and saw him there. But yeah, that’s how we met. We met in a gym while I was getting ready for Shane (McMahon) in WrestleMania.”

Starks made his debut for a major promotion in 2018 at the NWA 70th Anniversary show. He later won the promotion’s TV title in 2020, shortly before making his AEW debut. That summer, Starks answered Cody Rhodes’ open challenge for the TNT title, leading to Tony Khan signing him after the match. He went on to win the FTW title and AEW World Tag Team Championships with Big Bill before AEW stopped using him last March.