— Many expected former AEW star Ricky Starks to pop up in WWE sooner or later but the move happened this week on NXT much quicker than anyone anticipated – just 24 hours after his release from AEW was made official.

— PWInsiderelite.com reports that Starks was “well known” by WWE management and had been backstage at several WWE events with Cody Rhodes, who is a very close friend of his, and in fact was with Cody when he returned to WWE. As reported before, the idea to include him on NXT was a last minute decision as he was not spotted at the WWE Performance Center at any point in the week and legally only could work for WWE after his Monday release.

— With NXT on his immediate horizon, the above report targets his next appearance at NXT Vengeance Day this Saturday and further confirmation of that can be concluded based on the fact that Starks has pulled out of an indie event for Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling who announced: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, Ricky Starks will not be in attendance on Saturday, February 15th at the Tannery Row Ale House.”