‘Chip On My Shoulder’ – Former AEW Star Opens Up About WWE Success

WWE/AEW

A former AEW star has opened up about having a ‘chip on his shoulder’ despite experiencing success in WWE.

Familiar to AEW fans as Ricky Starks, the former World Tag Team Champion headed to WWE in February of this year, establishing himself as a star in NXT.

Now performing as Ricky Saints, his WWE career as seen the star hold the NXT North American Championship, with his latest title acquisition being the NXT Championship.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Saints reflected on his position as the face of NXT, saying:

“It’s great. There’s a point in your life where you work really hard for things and you know the things that you want, and then you’re given it and it almost feels just right.

“So I’m not gonna say I’m surprised by this or anything like that, it’s good to be in this position because it allows me to show everyone everything I felt about myself already.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

While he may be enjoying the position he is in, he admitted to still having a chip on his shoulder, explaining:

“Yeah, even to this day, I still have a chip on my shoulder, and it’s not just from one thing. You can pull from the reaction from AEW fans to here and vice versa, but it’s even beyond that.

“I’m sitting across the table from an athlete who looks at me differently, as if he’s better than me, as if he has somehow had a step above me based off what I’ve done outside of those four walls.

“Those types of feelings still harbor because it is true, and it is still something that I’m dealing with every day when I got to the PC or when I’m talking to someone. The fact is that I don’t want anyone to ever look at me as a less than, and then treat me that way. So I’m always fighting for those things.

“So the fire that you see and that emotion comes from a real place cause it is alive. I don’t think it’ll ever go away, and I think the day that it does, I’m screwed. But I appreciate it for that, and I figured out a way to use that type of frustration that I still have.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Saints defeated Oba Femi to become NXT Champion at No Mercy on September 27, with Cody Rhodes among the WWE stars to comment on the win.

The NXT star has previously commented on his real-life friendship with The American Nightmare and current Undisputed WWE Champion.

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

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

• ricky saints
• AEW
• nxt
• wwe
• ricky starks

Share this article with friends