Since his debut in All Elite Wrestling, ‘Absolute’ Ricky Starks has been compared to The Rock due to their appearance and the way they speak. On last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, the scorching promo battle between Ricky Starks and MJF saw the new AEW World Champion refer to his challenger as “dollar store Dwayne.”
Ahead of challenging MJF for the AEW World Championship at Winter Is Coming, Starks addressed the comparisons in an interview with ComicBook.com.
“I tell this all the time, The Rock wasn’t my favorite wrestler. He was like my number three favorite wrestler,” Starks said. “That’s not to discredit The Rock from any type of talent he has, but I say that to say he wasn’t a big inspiration.”
Starks added that he wants to be respected for his own uniqueness.
“I always tell this: I don’t hate the comparisons,” Starks continued. “What I do hate though, is being discredited for my natural creativity in lieu of someone saying, ‘Well, you’re just literally copying The Rock,’ which isn’t true at all.”
In terms of their speech patterns, Starks cited his hometown of New Orleans as the source of his cadence. He praised The Rock for being a great businessman and for the way he conducts himself.
“If some by chance, somebody thinks that I’m Rock-lite, then that’s cool.”
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