When you come to WWE, often you get a new ring name.
Ricky Saints, the current WWE NXT World Champion, learned this first-hand when coming to the company from AEW, where he worked as Ricky Starks.
During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, the WWE NXT World Champion addressed the name change situation, explaining how it didn’t really bother him.
“I wasn’t stressed about it because I’m the same person at heart,” he stated. “Even then, when I’m in the airport, people still call me Starks. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’”
The top dog in the current WWE NXT men’s division continued, “Either way, you still know how I am. I am appreciative and thankful for that in itself. I didn’t really think about how long it would take, I just knew it would happen and eventually people would be like, ‘I can get with it now.’”
Also during the interview, Saints spoke about his interest in defending his WWE NXT World Championship against a WWE main roster talent.
“The next step would be, let’s mix it up,” he said when asked what is next for him. “Let’s take somebody from the main roster, bring them down here, and see how a WWE NXT Champion compares to one of those guys. Even then, the talent pool at NXT is so deep. Je’Von Evans, Myles Borne, so many people are on the way up. I have no problem showing the different styles or the contrast between me and these people, especially when it comes to experience. I have no problem showing that off.”
Saints added, “Those are areas that I’m interested in because it mixes it up, it’s a little bit different, but it also gives you a glimpse into the future of what we have at NXT. On top of that, it can show you the NXT Champion can hang with anyone.”
For those who missed it, Zelina Vega is the latest to be hit with a WWE name change, as her name was changed on the official WWE website on Sunday.
(H/T to Jeremy Lambert and Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
