In a recent episode of the “Insight” podcast, prominent AEW wrestler Ricky Starks revealed his thoughts about being labeled as a “vanilla midget Rock ripoff” by WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland. The confrontation occurred during an episode of AEW Collision in October 2023.
Starks believes that he navigated the situation effectively and emerged unharmed.
Podcast highlights featuring Starks include:
Starks on being called a “vanilla midget Rock ripoff” by Adam Copeland: “He labeled me as a ‘vanilla midget Rock ripoff.’ The clip continually goes viral. It’s amusing because, in the end, I wanted to respond further. You can see me grinning as I respond, ‘That indeed sent me over the Edge.’ I did that to keeping things from escalating. You might as well regard me as an excellent heel. I actually detest speaking like this, but I flustered someone so much live on TV that they blundered their way into a dated and inadequate insult. A vanilla midget? I could have come back with the, ‘I’m black, you fool,’ but I chose not to.”
Starks discussing the outcome of the event: “Personally, among everything that happened, I don’t feel like Ricky Starks came out poorly. The person who ended up looking bad wasn’t me. This is how it played out. People claim, ‘AEW is the space for unscripted promos,’ and then you have those saying, ‘Ricky deviated from the script.’ How? What was my offense? The promo was superb. No script was present. How can one go off-script when there is no script initially? I didn’t utter anything outrageous. I simply referred to someone as having bug eyes. What’s the issue there? How is that more offensive than calling someone overweight? Referencing bug eyes is really bottom-tier.”