Ricky Starks appeared to have legitimately gotten hurt on AEW Collision and it led to a change in the outcome of the AEW Tag Team Title tournament match.
According to Fightful Select, Ricky Starks and Big Bill were the planned team to advance in the tournament as they faced Top Flight in the opening round.
Towards the end of the match, Starks was supposed to kick out of a pinfall attempt but he missed. The referee stopped the count despite Starks’ shoulder being on the mat which led to booing from the crowd.
Ricky Starks then got up and took a DDT from Darius Martin before finally being pinned. Trainers were seen checking on the AEW star after the bell rang.
Even on the television broadcast, one could tell that Tony Schiavone was preparing to call for a kickout by Starks but sadly that didn’t happen. Big Bill and Starks were penciled in to face FTR in the next round of the tournament, but now it is Top Flight advancing.
Starks and Big Bill had a credible run as AEW World Tag Team Champions before they dropped the titles to Sting and Darby Allin not long before Sting retired at AEW Revolution.
So far the teams who have advanced in the tournament apart from Top Flight are The Young Bucks who defeated Private Party, The Best Friends who beat Undisputed Kingdom, and FTR who defeated The Infantry earlier in the evening.
Ricky Starks has since provided an update on his status and noted that he is doing fine. It’s possible that he may be kept away from ring for a while just to be sure.
The show also featured a surprise appearance from a former IC Champion who answered Adam Copeland’s open challenge. You can check out full details of the segment here.