The winter of 2022 was all about Ricky Starks and elevating his game to the main event level in AEW. After a relatively light workload in the fall, with just five matches booked between August and October after losing the FTW belt to Hook at Fight for the Fallen, Starks re-emerged onto the AEW landscape in a major way come November, with “Stroke Daddy” first defeating Lance Archer, Bryan Cage, and “All Ego” Ethan Page to win the World Title Eliminator Tournament and then winning the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royal to secure not only a chance to wrestle MJF for the AEW World Championship but to take his Dynamite Diamond Ring too.

Unfortunately, MJF came up short in his match against Maxwell Jacob Friedman thanks to some trickery from the current champion, and fans wonder why, oh why Tony Khan committed so much television time to building Starks up and giving him two big event wins only to lose at Winter is Coming.

So what gives? Is Starks heading back to Dark and Dark Elevation, or does Khan have another plan for the former NWA Television Champion?  Fortunately, none other than Chris Jericho emerged from the back during Starks' first promo post his AEW World Championship loss, and he set up a very interesting prospect for the first new feud of 2023.

Ricky Starks books a massive bout for AEW's first 2023 show.

After cutting an expansive promo declaring that he would knock down any performer lined up in front of him on the way to the AEW World Championship, the leader of the JAS came down to the ring and shot his shot at securing a new member for his faction after losing to Claudio Castagnoli at Ring of Honor Final Battle.

“Ricky, Ricky, Ricky,” Jericho said. “I’ve been watching you for a long time Ricky Starks, a long time. And I saw you last week and you’re right, you did come this close to winning the World Championship. But I’m gonna tell you this, you’re not a Dollar Store version of anybody, you are a million dollar talent. And I guarantee you will be a world champion someday. But you’re just not quite ready yet. And I don’t want you to be a flash in the pan, Ricky Starks, I said it last week and I’m gonna say it now and after talking it over with Danny and Sammy, my close personal confidants, we think you have everything it takes to be a star here in AEW. All you need, though, is a little influence, a little advice, a little Chris Jericho.”

“We spoke it over, and Ricky Starks, we want you to join the Jericho Appreciation Society.”

Starks, to his credit, tried to humor Jericho for a minute, but only for a minute.

“Oh wow, the almighty Jericho gave me a compliment, I love it! Hey, my turn,” Starks said. “Do you know what I like about you Chris? I like the fact that you know how to stay relevant. I like the fact that you constantly envolve. H*ll, a few months ago you were coming out here built like an air fryer and now look at you – you’re lean, you’re mean, you’re shredded. You’re dressed like a single father on his fifth divorce, and I love it personally.”

“And while the offer is very tempting to join your little boy band, I’m going to say h*ll no, I’m not going to join JAS. You think I want to be a part of club vampire and have a leash around my neck? No, no, no, h*ll, last week you lost to Action Andretti and your stock has kind of dropped. And I you ask me, the J in JAS might as well stand for jobbers.”

After talking down Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia and challenging “The Ocho” to a match on the January 4th edition of Dynamite, Starks was attacked by Jake Hager – and his hat – inside the ring and ganged up on by the rest of the JAS until Andretti emerged from the back to save his fellow babyface and laid out Jericho once more. Could this be the feud that finally cements Starks as a main event performer worthy of a run with the TNT Championship and maybe even more? Or will he fall into the clutches of the clout vampire and find that the time he spends working with Jericho has very little effect on his career trajectory moving forward? Either way, it looks like Starks won't have to fade into the background just yet, as he's got matters to attend to that are very much Dynamite-worthy.