WWE Star Vacates Championship

Published: Feb 28, 2025 by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: Feb 28, 2025 by Jamie Toolan

Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.

WWE

WWE NXT star Ricky Saints has officially relinquished the DEFY World Championship, with a new champion set to be crowned at their March 15 event.

On the February 11 episode of NXT Ricky Saints (fka Ricky Starks) made his WWE debut, emerging from within the crowd at the Performance Center just one day after his AEW departure was made official.

While fans have been excited to see Saints back in action after almost a year off TV in AEW, his debut in WWE casted major doubt on his future as DEFY World Champion, having only recently won the title from KENTA on February 7.

With no announcement made in the weeks since Saints’ move to WWE, DEFY have now shared a video in which Saints officially announced that he was relinquishing the championship, as well as revealing that a new champion will be crowned at DEFY Aftermath on March 15.

Saints said:

“I wanted to give a quick message to the fans of Defy. It is an honor and privilege to be your Defy World Champion, and it was a big goal of mine to do just that when I defeated KENTA, but, unfortunately, when opportunity knocks — I must answer.

“And as everyone probably knows by now, I definitely answered that knock. And it is bittersweet because I have to relinquish the Defy World title.

“While my reign and my time at Defy may have been short-lived, I hope and I pray that the memories to come will long supersede that. So, until next time, stay Absolute.”

Saints picked up a win in his in-ring WWE debut on this week’s NXT, teaming alongside Je’Von Evans against Wes Lee and Ethan Page.

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Transcript via F4WOnline

DEFY AFTERMATH

SAT. MARCH 15th | WA HALL

DEFY SUPER 8XGP will crown a new DEFY World Champion! Participants and matches will be announced soon.

Do not miss this historic event!

Tickets: https://t.co/gf7u4WnJdY pic.twitter.com/KiLUexkf0t

— DEFY Wrestling (@defyNW) February 28, 2025