Bryan Danielson was key in motivating Ricky Starks following their Strap Match at AEW All Out.
The match was The American Dragon’s return match and one that Starks was not entirely prepared for, as the AEW Tag Team Champion was originally set to face CM Punk in the brutal encounter. However, following the incident that took place at All In and the subsequent firing of CM Punk from AEW, plans were forcibly changed and Danielson was inserted as a last-minute replacement, also not fully recovered from the broken arm suffered at Forbidden Door.
Speaking with the Black Rasslin’ Podcast, Starks described how the events leading up to the match were very hectic and frustrating:
“The Strap Match. The Strap Match, here’s the truth about it. The circumstances leading up to the strap match was very chaotic and a point of frustration for me. If you saw that Collision, I went out and started the show with a very heartfelt message that I wanted to get to people. It wasn’t me whining and complaining. It was more of a message or, ‘Look, even somebody like me, even somebody who is dedicated and puts in the work, takes the steps back due to outside sources.’
That match in itself, had no expectations for it. Didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought Bryan is a great dude. Didn’t realize his arm was still kind of injured or something, so that was something to keep in mind,”
Bryan Danielson & Ricky Starks Match At AEW All Out Well-Received
The match itself was praised by fans and critics, with Starks earning his first 5* rating for his performance against Bryan Danielson. Describing how he felt after the bloody encounter, Starks revealed how he received a confidence boost from all of the positive comments:
“Afterwards, the reception of it was so overwhelming for me that, on the flight home, I was looking through my text messages. It’s just a lot of people were like, ‘Man, that was amazing.’ It really touched something into me where it kind of, I kind of found myself again a bit. Not saying that I lost myself, but something that was dormant kind of woke back up.
I felt so inspired, and I was just moved by it because I didn’t have any expectations about it and I went out there, and I gave it 1000%. I put everything that I had into it, to the point where I was just so exhausted. There’s a promo that I cut after, it was four minutes long, and they didn’t really use it, they chopped it up a bit. But I really hope that they post it one day because you see me in the rawest form.
Once you see it, I think you will..that’s what I mean by being misunderstood, things that people don’t get, that what I’m referring to, it isn’t about just, ‘Woe is me. It’s more than that. It’s more than just wrestling. But that match itself was so great. It’s hard, when you have great matches like that, it’s hard to, you have the need to try to top it. But some things just can’t be topped. Some things are at its pinnacle point, and they exist there, and then you can have another space to put it right next to it. You need to have to take one out and replace it,”
H/t to Fightful.