Ricky Saints responds to critics of his first WWE title win (Exclusive)
Ricky Saints defeated Shawn Spears on the April 1 episode of WWE NXT to win the North American Championship. In an exclusive interview, the 35-year-old addressed people who thought his title victory came too early in his WWE career.
Saints joined WWE in February after five years in AEW. On April 19, he successfully defended the North American Championship against Ethan Page in the first match on the Stand & Deliver main show.
Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter, Saints questioned why some fans wanted his title win to happen at a later date:
"Yeah, I mean, is it any surprise to anybody? It's definitely not a surprise to me. It happened a lot quicker than most people thought, but my question is what is the timeframe that these things are supposed to happen? When you're talented, when you believe in yourself, and you have the vision already, why is there a timeframe? It can happen within a day's time." [From 01:04 – 01:26]
Watch the video above to hear Saints' thoughts on whether he could face Seth Rollins in a dream match on the main roster.
Ricky Saints explains the origin of his WWE name
Before joining WWE, Ricky Saints performed under his real name Ricky Starks elsewhere in the wrestling business.
The NXT talent chose his new WWE surname because he wanted to pay homage to the New Orleans Saints NFL team.
"Well, you know, you go to the court, you put a different name down, and it's legal," Saints joked. "That's what the judge said, 'It's fine.' Yes [named based on hometown], actually, yes, it was. I'm from New Orleans, obviously, so it's always good to give a good nod to where I'm from, obviously." [From 0:24 – 0:48]
Saints has been close friends with Cody Rhodes for several years. In the same interview, he opened up about possibly going one-on-one with the former Undisputed WWE Champion.
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