Ricky Starks' Next Steps to Super Stardom, Rhea Ripley vs. Everyone, More Quick Takes

Ricky Starks turned plenty of heads with his standout performance against MJF for the AEW World Championship in the main event of Dynamite's Winter Is Coming episode. It then became a question of how AEW would follow on it.

Not only did he kick off Dynamite last Wednesday night, Starks also kicked off his next program with Chris Jericho. Their war of words proved he could hold his own against the iconic competitor and that his ascent has only just begun.

Rhea Ripley was another up-and-comer who shined this past week in her match with Akira Tozawa on WWE Raw. She dominated a majority of the match and ultimately emerged victorious in what was one of the few truly competitive intergender matches the company has ever done.

Ripley vs. Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's Championship should obviously be the endgame eventually (ideally at WrestleMania 39), but there's nothing wrong with The Nightmare battling male members of the Raw roster in the meantime.

This installment of Quick Takes will delve into WWE's booking of Ripley, the return of Bronson Reed on Raw, the ladies stealing the show in the Dynamite main event and more.

Ricky Starks Will Be Further Elevated by Chris Jericho Feud

Contrary to what some may believe, not everything Chris Jericho has touched in AEW has instantly turned to gold. In fact, there have been several storylines that didn't have a payoff satisfying enough to justify being dragged out well past their expiration date.

However, pairing him off with Ricky Starks is mutually beneficial for them.

Starks was on fire throughout the recent No. 1 contender's tournament and had a ton of momentum heading into Winter Is Coming. He fell short as expected, but following that up with a feud with Jericho is absolutely the best possible use of him at the moment.

Jericho is also feud-free coming off the culmination of his rivalry with Blackpool Combat Club. He had some of his best AEW matches ever during his recent run as Ring of Honor world champion and lends a lot of credibility to someone such as Starks simply by working with them.

Their first verbal exchange on Dynamite last week went wonderfully and was a mere taste of what they're capable of delivering as rivals. This is, of course, under the assumption Starks will go over Jericho when all is said and done to ensure Starks is in an even better place in his career than he is currently.

Feuding with a star of Jericho's caliber will ensure Starks remains in the main event mix where he belongs.

The O.C. Can Remain Relevant in a Feud with The Bloodline

Outside of the initial reunion, there hasn't been much buzz surrounding The O.C. these days.

Their feud with The Judgment Day served its purpose and featured a few solid matches. Thankfully, AJ Styles has been perfectly fine and has more matches than he's won, but Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows haven't done anything to add to the act at all.

Last Monday on Raw, the trio seemingly started a storyline with The Bloodline upon brawling with them in the ring. Styles went on to face Sami Zayn later in the night and lose following outside interference from Solo Sikoa.

Kevin Owens remains the most likely opponent for Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble, but Styles shouldn't be counted out, either. The O.C. have been left spinning their wheels with nothing of note to do in recent weeks. Entering a rivalry with The Bloodline would give them direction.

Granted, they'd merely be The Bloodline's setup guys ahead of WrestleMania season, but it's better than racking up meaningless victories over Alpha Academy each week. They need a high-profile program for Triple H to justify bringing back Gallows and Anderson, and getting involved with The Bloodline for a brief feud would fulfill that.

Bronson Reed Has the Potential to Be One of Triple H's Better Pet Projects

Triple H has re-signed many familiar faces since taking creative control of WWE in attempt to fill out the once-depleted Raw and SmackDown rosters.

Some have been more underwhelming than others so far, but Bronson Reed will wind up being one of the more successful returning stars based on his skills and size alone.

The lack of reaction his comeback on Raw received was hardly a surprise considering he never previously appeared on the main roster and was last seen on NXT in the summer of 2021. In his year away from WWE, he had great runs in Impact and New Japan Pro-Wrestling and reminded the world of how talented he truly is.

Triple H is giving him the chance he was never afforded the first time around when Vince McMahon was still at the helm. There's a chance he doesn't pan out and doesn't get over with the audience, but as long as the booking holds up, he should have no issue overcoming any obstacles in his way.

There's no need for him to be aligned with The Miz going forward when he can instead wreak havoc on the Raw roster and be the dominant force he was destined to be.

AEW's Women Deserve Main Event Spotlight More Often

Astoundingly, the number of women's matches AEW has had in the main event of Dynamite in the last three years can be counted on one hand.

It should be more commonplace for women to main-event Dynamite, and after the barnburner that was Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida, the odds of that happening have increased exponentially.

Hayter and Shida were expected to have a well-wrestled affair because of how great both of them are. Instead, they went above and beyond to bring out the best in each other and cause the crowd to hang on every near-fall.

It could very well go down as one of the best television matches for AEW all year.

Fans may argue that women's matches haven't headlined Dynamite more often because they've lacked importance, but that is entirely the fault of the booking and not the talent themselves. More compelling storylines for the division can help with that.

AEW prioritizing the women a bit better has been long overdue and a welcome change of pace.

Rhea Ripley Is the Perfect Person to Work Intergender Matches in WWE

This was the first year since 2017 when Rhea Ripley signed with WWE that she hasn't held gold of any kind, and yet it ended up being her strongest year yet character-wise.

Ripley found her footing as a heel soon after joining The Judgment Day earlier this year and developed quick chemistry with Dominik Mysterio. The only thing left for her to do was to get back in the ring, specifically with the male Superstars to further establish an intimidation factor.

It wouldn't work with just anyone, but Ripley can easily be viewed as a threat to most male stars on the Raw roster and should be taken seriously as their counterpart. A match against Brock Lesnar would obviously be far fetched, but her outing against Akira Tozawa was evidence that it's believable.

WWE hasn't done intergender wrestling very often in the last few decades, but Ripley is a special case the company should make an exception for more regularly. Tozawa could easily endure the loss, and the same can be said for anyone from AJ Styles to Rey Mysterio.

This would also allow her to get her comeuppance from a male babyface easier in the future because they can actually make physical contact with her (in a fashion that makes sense). She was already the centerpiece of Judgment Day, and her latest performance only cemented that.

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Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.