Below are a couple of top AEW news stories of the day, involving Bryan Danielson, Ricky Starks & Big Bill.
• Bryan Danielson plans to retire as a full-time wrestler later this year.
During an interview on Casual Conversations with The Wrestling Classic, Bryan was asked what’s left on his wrestling checklist.
Bryan said he wants to work All In 2024 at Wembley Stadium and then end his full-time career with a match at AEW WrestleDream 2024 on October 12:
“The big one is Wembley (that is left on my wrestling checklist). I wanna make it to Wembley. My contract actually expires before Wembley. But I wanna make it to Wembley.
I’m not sure if I’ll make it, but one thing that would be a nice way to kind of close everything out for me is to do my last match as a full-time wrestler at WrestleDream at the Tacoma Dome — we’re doing the Tacoma Dome — because that’s the first wrestling show I ever saw.
It was WWF and it was Ultimate Warrior versus Rick Rude in the main event and it’s the first time my sister ever saw a male butt cheek. My dad talked about it till the day he died.
The Ultimate Warrior sunset flips Rick Rude, Rick Rude’s back and butt are facing directly towards us and then Ultimate Warrior pulls down his pants, we see his butt-cheeks and my sister’s cheeks go bright red. My dad howled about that until the day he died.”
WATCH: Revealing Video Of Brie Bella’s (Daniel Bryan’s Wife) Top Being Taken Off:
• AEW boasts a robust tag team division, teeming with talent and diverse pairings. With Tag Team Titles in both AEW and ROH, as well as the Trios Title for six-man teams, the promotion offers a plethora of opportunities for its tag team roster. However, amidst this abundance, one notable team will not be reuniting.
Big Bill (fka Big Cass in WWE) and Ricky Starks, formerly part of Stokely Hathaway’s stable known as The Firm, embarked on a journey together in August, emerging as a formidable duo on television. Starks assumed the role of managing Bill, a narrative device employed during his storyline suspension to keep him in the spotlight. Their collaboration culminated in a significant victory last October, as they dethroned FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) to claim the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
A few months later, they lost the titles to Sting and Darby Allin in a tornado tag team match on the February 7 episode of Dynamite. Following an injury scare during a match several weeks ago, Starks vanished from television screens. In his absence, Bill found himself aligned with Chris Jericho, expressing a desire to join Jericho’s “Learning Tree”.
Recent reports from Fightful Select suggest that the partnership between Big Bill and Ricky Starks is over. Sources indicated that there are no concrete plans to continue the team, with both wrestlers eager to explore new ventures. It appears that they believe their collaboration has reached its natural conclusion, signaling a shift in AEW’s tag team landscape.
