Ricky Saints Comments On Triple H Calling Him Personally

Former AEW star Ricky Starks, now known as Ricky Saints in WWE NXT, has had a long journey to get to where he is. From being a top star in Tony Khan’s company to getting called personally by Triple H to join WWE, he finally tells all.

Ricky Saints Didn’t Know It Was Triple H Calling

On the latest edition of the “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, Saints revealed how his first conversation with Triple H went. He said,

“Triple H called me. Just got off a flight to Seattle, actually, and he called me and I was just like, ‘Uh,’ because I didn’t know the number, and it didn’t say Stamford or anything, so I was like, who is this? And I always answer it. Even if it’s an unknown, I’ll always answer.”

“So Hunter calls me, I’m getting off this flight in Seattle, and I can barely hear him. The airport’s so loud, and he asks me, ‘Hey, would you wanna come in?’ And, ‘We’re interested,’ blah, blah. ‘We’d love to have you. You’re talented, X, Y, and Z, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, sure. Hell yeah.”

“Right as I’m getting on the tram, he says something about, he was like, ‘RAW or SmackDown’ and I was like, ‘Wait, what? What did you say?’ And I was so scared to say, ‘Hey, could you repeat yourself?’ Because I know how it feels, that I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, for sure.’”

“Basically, what he was saying was, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna put you on RAW or SmackDown just yet.’ But he wanted me to meet Shawn, and so that was like a big thing. I was like, ‘Of course I will. Yes, I would love that.’ That’s all I really wanted is just resources. I feel like I’m a rough diamond that just needs a little polishing.”

Ricky Saints Appeared At The Royal Rumble To Support Rhodes

Ricky Saints got into hot water when he appeared at the 2023 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 40. This was while he was under contract with AEW. However, Saints didn’t care about it as he was there to support his friend. He said,

“I will never let somebody weaponize a friendship against me. And that comes back to the loyalty that I have. This is the thing like, I don’t have a lot of friends, so to speak. The people that have shown me being seen, being heard, being understood. A random text message means the world to me. I have such an endearing and deep love for you as a person because of what you have shown and reciprocated back.

So when I did that, I didn’t give a f*ck. I’ll be real with you. And I don’t really believe in something being a detriment to my career. If you take that whole situation out of its element and you show someone, hey, this guy got in trouble for being at his friend’s biggest moment of his career. What do you think of that? That’s a beautiful thing. Why should I ever get in trouble?

Even to this day, I will ride for somebody because that’s just in my nature. And I will never, ever, ever let a situation like that ever be something that hinders me. I already knew being so public about an affection for a friend, especially in your position, was always going to be ‘That’s just Cody’s friend.’ That’s cool, if that’s what you think of me, perfect. But when I get in the ring, when I get on the microphone, no one will ever say that sh*t to me. I don’t regret anything. I don’t regret the Rumble thing.”

Ricky Saints Struggled Growing Up Biracial

Ricky Saints also touched upon his upbringing in New Orleans. He explained how his racial identity shaped him. He stated,

“In New Orleans, there’s a lot of fair-skinned people that look like this, that are Black, it’s just based off the Creole history. So I went to a predominantly all-Black school in New Orleans East. Even then, I was a lot lighter than I am now, and I was constantly, I’m not gonna say picked on, because I did my fair share of causing that stuff, I would just talk my sht. But I had a lot of issues because people thought I was white.”

“This was an all-Black school, so even if I did something they didn’t like, it was always a race thing. I was always in fights, like every week. It was something my mom had to take off work to come handle. It really was me defending myself. And yeah, sometimes I instigated it. But I had to figure out, is this a pride thing or is it principle?”

“I got over that by accepting myself, who I am, how I look. I know who I am, and I can’t change someone else’s perception. But I won’t let anyone walk over me either. I had to work through how to let things roll off my back. I wasn’t the best at it. I lashed out a lot, but I got to a point where I was confident enough to just keep it moving.”

Ricky Saints is gearing up to face off against Ethan Page at NXT Great American Bash this weekend. The match has a Falls Count Anywhere stipulation for the North American Championship. If Saints wins, this will be his second reign as North American Champion.

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