A former AEW standout has opened up about still carrying a “chip on his shoulder” despite finding major success in WWE.

Known to AEW fans as Ricky Starks, the former AEW World Tag Team Champion made the move to WWE earlier this year, joining the NXT roster under the name Ricky Saints. Since arriving, he has captured both the NXT North American Championship and, more recently, the NXT Championship, cementing himself as one of the brand’s biggest names.

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Saints reflected on reaching the top of NXT and how it feels to finally be in a position he long envisioned for himself.

“It’s great. There’s a point in your life where you work really hard for things and you know the things that you want, and then you’re given it and it almost feels just right. So I’m not gonna say I’m surprised by this or anything like that, it’s good to be in this position because it allows me to show everyone everything I felt about myself already.”

Although he is enjoying his success, Saints admitted he continues to wrestle with internal motivation and perception, explaining that a chip still remains firmly in place.

“Yeah, even to this day, I still have a chip on my shoulder, and it’s not just from one thing. You can pull from the reaction from AEW fans to here and vice versa, but it’s even beyond that.

“I’m sitting across the table from an athlete who looks at me differently, as if he’s better than me, as if he has somehow had a step above me based off what I’ve done outside of those four walls.

“Those types of feelings still harbor because it is true, and it is still something that I’m dealing with every day when I got to the PC or when I’m talking to someone. The fact is that I don’t want anyone to ever look at me as a less than, and then treat me that way. So I’m always fighting for those things.

“So the fire that you see and that emotion comes from a real place cause it is alive. I don’t think it’ll ever go away, and I think the day that it does, I’m screwed. But I appreciate it for that, and I figured out a way to use that type of frustration that I still have.”

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