Current FTW champion Ricky Starks recently appeared on the PWI podcast , during which he talked about his relationship with Taz, and how he feels about fans comparing him to The Rock. Check out the highlights below:
āTaz is really great when it comes to the business side, obviously, heās great when it comes to some of the stuff in the ring. So I try to pick his brain when I can. The relationship that me and him have is that I donāt necessarily always have to go to him and ask him for advice. Thereās times where heāll come to me and say to keep this in mind or do this or do that. I definitely think heās helped me out when it comes to my matches and things of that nature. Then when it came to the promos, we collaborated quite a bit. I donāt think people realize that. So I like that about Taz. He sees the positive and he tries to accentuate the positives with me. There are bad things that I do that he nipped in the bud and Iād never do it again. So the relationship is really good, I think.ā
āWell, the only thing that bothers me is when people try to say that Iām actually actively copying The Rock with the way I dress and all this other dumb sh*t. It does piss me off because Iāve never gone into wrestling trying to copy The Rock. Iāve never studied The Rockās promos to do exactly how he does. Everything I do, it comes from my head. It comes from how I feel and how I want to look. So when I hear people say that and discredit my originality, it does bother me a bit. I think the issue is that some people, even outside of wrestling fans, theyāre so closed minded that they canāt understand thereās individuality in certain people, and because of the way that I dress, they compare it to how The Rock used to dress. The Rock isnāt the only guy that knows how to dress. You all are just so used to people in basketball shorts and their own merchandise shirts, that you canāt fathom somebody coming on screen and dressing in a turtleneck and nice slacks. Itās the most bizarre thing.ā
āI donāt mind the comparison. Itās just when people say verbatim āYeah, heās just stealing The Rock.ā If you want to see who is stealing The Rock, maybe we should look at some other promotions and go from there. Because I have never sat up here and tried to basically bite off The Rockās style of anything. I am who I am. So thatās the only thing I really get irked about is when people try to discredit me in my own way, but in terms of comparisons looks wise, I actually donāt mind. Me and The Rock are both handsome individuals, and you canāt say that a lot for some of the fans that try to talk trash about us.ā