WWE Rumors on Ricky Starks' Debut; WrestleMania 41 Plans for CM Punk, Drew McIntyre

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

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Reported Details on Starks WWE Debut in NXT

Former AEW star Ricky Starks shocked the pro wrestling world Tuesday night by making his surprise WWE debut on NXT.

The debut occurred just one day after Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported that Starks was no longer under contract with AEW.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), there was a specific reason why WWE decided to debut on Starks rather than on the main roster as part of Raw or SmackDown.

Sources indicated that since WrestleMania 41 plans are locked in for the most part, NXT provided more flexibility and could accommodate a big addition like Starks.

While the fans in attendance chanted Starks' name in unison when he made his way through the crowd and cut a promo, neither Starks nor the announce team outright said his name.

Per Fightful, that was a conscious move on WWE's part, although the reasoning for it is unclear.

It could be a case of WWE intending to change Starks' name, much like it did when Brian Pillman Jr. went from AEW to NXT and was renamed Lexis King.

Regardless of what his name ends up being, Starks is a huge addition to the NXT brand, as he is already a highly accomplished performer.

The 34-year-old from New Orleans first entered into the spotlight as part of NWA from 2018 to 2020, as he showcased his promo chops and held the NWA World Television Championship.

Starks signed with AEW in 2020 and went on to hold the AEW World Tag Team Championships and FTW Championship one time each. He also had several memorable matches against established stars such as CM Punk and Bryan Danielson.

Although Starks got over with the AEW fanbase, he was removed from AEW programming and didn't have a match for the promotion from March 2024 until his departure about 11 months later.

Now, Starks appears to be in line to establish himself as one of the faces of NXT in the weeks and months to come.

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Punk Reportedly Receiving Support for WrestleMania Title Match

Some in WWE reportedly want CM Punk to be part of the currently planned WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 41.

According to WrestleVotes on SportsKeeda’s Backstage Pass Q&A (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), there is some support within WWE for the idea of Punk being added to a WWE title match between Cody Rhodes and John Cena at WrestleMania 41 to make it a Triple Threat.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlePurists) reported recently that Cena has been planned to win the men's Elimination Chamber match "since probably October or November."

If that does indeed happen, Cena would challenge Rhodes for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania since men's Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso already chose world heavyweight champion Gunther as his opponent.

That means some big names could be left out of the world title picture, including Punk, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

Late in the men's Rumble, Punk eliminated both Reigns and Rollins at the same time, and Punk was dumped out by Logan Paul seconds later. Rollins subsequently lost it, as he hit Reigns with a stomp on the floor and on the steel stairs, and also threw hands with Punk.

In the wake of that angle, PWInsider Elite (h/t WrestleTalk) reported that WWE is planning a Triple Threat match between Punk, Reigns and Rollins at WrestleMania.

While that would be a huge non-title match on the Grandest Stage of Them All, it can be argued that there would be more value in moving Punk into the title picture and allowing Reigns and Rollins to go one-on-one at WrestleMania for the first time ever.

One possible way to make that happen would see Punk cash in the favor he secured from Paul Heyman in exchange for being on Reigns' WarGames team at Survivor Series.

That could then set the stage for plenty of tension between Reigns, Punk and Heyman, possibly culminating in a match at SummerSlam or next year's WrestleMania.

Perhaps most importantly, Punk's inclusion in the WWE Championship match would take some pressure off Cena, who has only wrestled sparingly over the past several years due to his Hollywood commitments.

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WWE Reportedly Reconsidering WrestleMania Plans for McIntyre

WWE higher-ups are reportedly rethinking their plans for Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 41 in April.

According to SportsKeeda's Chris Featherstone, online backlash has caused WWE to re-open discussions regarding how it plans to utilize McIntyre at the Showcase of the Immortals in Las Vegas.

In the men's Royal Rumble match earlier this month, McIntyre was eliminated by Damian Priest, and that was supposed to mark the start of a rivalry between McIntyre and Priest that would have led to a WrestleMania match, per Lewis Browning of the Daily Mail.

Browning added that McIntyre feels he is deserving of a "more prominent feud" leading up to WrestleMania after being among WWE's most entertaining and compelling Superstars in 2024.

McIntyre has not acknowledged that Priest eliminated him since the Rumble, although he did move from Raw to SmackDown last week, so he is now on the same brand as Priest.

On last week's episode of SmackDown, McIntyre beat LA Knight and Jimmy Uso in a Triple Threat match to qualify for the men's Elimination Chamber match, meaning he is one big win away from a WWE title match at WrestleMania.

McIntyre doesn't figure to win the Chamber and face Rhodes at WrestleMania, and there is no obvious answer regarding who the Scottish star's WrestleMania opponent should be.

Priest would be a sensible opponent, though, since he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on McIntyre at WrestleMania last year and spoiled McIntyre World Heavyweight Championship celebration by winning the title for him.

A rivalry and match between them could be intriguing because of that, although it would arguably represent a step down for McIntyre after his recent feuds with Punk and Rollins.

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