Real Reason For Ricky Saints WWE Name Change Revealed

WWE

The real reason behind WWE’s decision to change Ricky Starks’ name to Ricky Saints has been revealed courtesy of a new report.

On February 11, just one day after his AEW departure was made official, Ricky Starks debuted in WWE NXT.

In the week that followed before Starks signed his WWE contract on NXT TV, speculation was rife regarding what name he would compete under in WWE, with the company being purposely vague regarding the matter both on TV and social media.

Fans’ suspicions of a name change were then confirmed on the February 18 episode of NXT, when it was revealed that Ricky Starks’ name had been officially changed to Ricky Saints.

While the change would receive some backlash from fans immediately after it was revealed, Saints spoke publicly about how he liked the name and how it “pays respect” to his hometown of New Orleans.

With several weeks passing since the change, Fightful Select has shared an update on WWE’s reasoning behind the decision.

According to Sean Ross Sapp in a new Fightful Select Q&A, a number of people in WWE were of the belief that they couldn’t get the clear rights to the Ricky Starks name, despite Saints using the name long before he joined AEW.

Saints was absent from this past Tuesday’s NXT (March 4), but did make his in-ring debut the week prior, competing in a tag team match alongside Je’Von Evans against Wes Lee and Ethan Page.

Despite Saints’ focus being on NXT, he had a keen eye on last night’s SmackDown in Philadelphia (March 7), specifically the reveal of who attacked his real-life friend and former AEW colleague Jade Cargill.

To find out what Saints had to say in response to the big reveal of Cargill’s attacker follow this link here.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on BlueSky by clicking this link!

• ricky saints
• ricky starks
• nxt
• wwe

Share this article with friends