AEW star Ricky Starks has revealed that he is technically still recovering from his neck injury despite being medically cleared to compete for several months.
Starks cleared up the confusion surrounding the status of his injury during a recent interview with Denise Salcedo.
"The situation is that I've been cleared since July," Starks said. "I had a match in Austin, and that was my first match after the neck injury, and I've been cleared thereafter," he continued.
Reports that Starks had injured his neck began to surface back in May. Since then, Starks has only worked three matches: one in July, one in September, and one on last week's edition of AEW Rampage, during which he defeated Brian Cage in a Street Fight. Starks' absence led to more speculation surrounding his health
"For whatever reason people just put together 'well he isn't on TV because of that.' That was never stated, that was never confirmed, or anything like that," Starks told Denise Salcedo in the aforementioned interview. "I do appreciate having the time off though, to further heal up my neck," he added.
Starks confirmed that his neck is still injured, and that it will take several more years to fully heal, but that he is able to perform in the ring while it heels.
"When you have a broken neck, when you have a fractured neck, whatever type of bone that is broken, you have 3/4 months that it's healed, but to fully heal it takes like 2 years," the FTW Champion clarified before adding that he's grateful to AEW for allowing him to continue with a lighter workload. "That's just from a doctor's point, a bone doesn't fully heal until 2 years after," he continued. "So I am always gonna have that, but to have the time off, and to have the time where I am still on TV and commentating and things like that, I am very appreciative of it, especially AEW giving me that time to slow it down and take my time with it. Anyone else could have rushed me back into the ring."
Ricky Starks has been wrestling since 2011. He worked for NWA and various independent promotions for most of his career. During the July 29, 2013 episode of Raw, Starks appeared in a backstage segment where he was bullied and attacked by Ryback. He took part in multiple WWE matches as an enhancement talent, losing to WWE Superstars like Jinder Mahal, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, Kane, and The Revival.