Ricky Starks announced for a high-profile debut outside AEW, to face star who left Tony Khan’s company

Ricky Starks’s last match in AEW occurred on the March 30 edition of Collision. He is set to make his wrestling come back but outside the promotion. He will face Mike Santana in his upcoming bout. Santana left the Jacksonville-based promotion earlier this year.

Back in March, Santana left AEW after being unhappy with the company and his creative direction. He later revealed that he had been plotting his exit for over a year and wanted an out from his contract.

House of Glory Wrestling recently shared news announcing that The Absolute Ricky Starks will take on former AEW star Mike Santana for the latter’s HOG World Heavyweight Championship. The high-profile match will occur at the main event of Watch The Throne event on January 17, 2025, in Chicago. This will be the AEW star’s debut match in HOG.

“C H I C A G O In an absolute blockbuster main event, HOG World Heavyweight Champion @Santana_Proud will defend his title against the debuting “Absolute” @starkmanjones, Friday, January 17th in Chicago!!!”

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Who is Ricky Starks’ replacement for the upcoming GCW event?

Ricky Starks was slated to face Matt Cardona in the upcoming GCW Highest in the Room 3 event in Los Angeles. However, Tony Khan pulled him from the match and all future appearances for the promotion.

The match featuring Matt Cardona is still on for the event and The Indy God will face Effy instead of Starks. A few hours ago, Game Changer Wrestling updated its fans about the recent change.

“*LA UPDATE* Just Signed: MATT CARDONA vs EFFY Plus: Josh Barnett vs Royce Isaacs Matthew Justice v Dr Redacted Zara Zakher v Brooke Havok Mance Warner Megan Bayne Dereiss Desperados.”

It is believed that Effy’s remarks regarding Khan’s father Shad Khan on his podcast may have influenced the AEW head’s decision to pull the former FTW Champion from all GCW appearances.