After coming out to attack Ricky Starks in the name of Bullet Club on Dynamite, fans waited with bated breath to see what “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson had to say about the biggest move of his AEW career to date. Fortunately, the NJPW standout was afforded a few moments to discuss his efforts and lay down the proverbial gauntlet at “Absolute's” feet.

“Everybody wants to know why I laid out Ricky Starks with a left hand and then planted his head into the mat,” Robinson said. “It isn’t ‘why Juice why, how could you do that to the beloved Ricky Starks?’ It should be, ‘what are you gonna do about Juice Robinson walking down to the ring, knocking the taste out of your mouth, and then planting your surgically-repaired neck – oh yeah, I remember – into the mat.’ I know what you’re gonna do about it, you ain’t gonna do jack diddly squat.”

… okay then. So Robinson attacked Starks because he… wanted to? Fortunately, Tony Schiavone caught up with “Stroke Daddy” in the back and was able to ask him about the whole situation too. Like pretty much everyone watching Dynamite, Starks heard what “Rock Hard” had to say, but he took it as more of a challenge than a recap of previous events.

“Yeah, it’s really easy to attack a guy from behind, isn’t it, Juice?” Starks asked. “I heard what you had to say, you’re jealous because I’m getting the so-called attention. Wow, good, I deserve it; what have you done here? You’re a part of the Bullet Club, hey, that was relevant back in 2015 but this is 2023, all right? Maybe you should stand on your own two feet and do something for yourself.

“And, you know, you’d think I would have learned by now, dealing with these groups and getting myself entangled in all of this mess, but same old Ricky, different day. So if it’s an issue you have with me, Juice, that you have, then come on and bring it. If it’s an issue that you want to bring Bullet Club in then come on, bring it. Any time, any place.”

So what what gives? Is Robinson simply a mini-boss for Starks to concur while MJF feuds with the other three pillars of AEW? Or is this the start of a genuine feud against the Bullet Club proper, with Starks wrestling the group up until Double or Nothing and either joining forces with them or fighting against them at Forbidden Door II, which is scheduled to take place in Toronto, Canada at the end of June? Either way, anything that gets Starks on television every week should sound like music to AEW fans' ears.

Ricky Starks finally comments on his Royal Rumble pciture with Cody Rhodes.

Sitting down with his AEW frenemy, Swerve Strickland, to talk all things wrestling on his Swerve City podcast, Starks was asked about his surprise backstage appearance at The Royal Rumble as part of Cody Rhodes' pre-show euntrauge and “Stroke Daddy” attempted to make light of the situation.

“What y'all do care about is where I go in my off time and what other pay-per-views I show up at,” Starks said with a laugh via Fightful. “Leave me alone. You gotta have real friends. Support real friends. The picture is great. It's so good. I look so jacked, like I'm about to rob a bank. The First 48, that's what it was. ‘The picture here is three suspects that we found in connection to a murder back in June of last year. If you have any information about these three, please let us know.”

Taking things in a more serious direction, Starks did note that he didn't like how things were handled and even suggested that he might take legal action over the whole ordeal.

“I'm in the process of maybe, maybe suing Alamodome and getting some money out of it,” Starks said. “Because, how are you a security guard and go, ‘You know what I got? Rewind the tape. Let me show you right quick.'”

While the picture in question isn't all that bad, especially since Starks is under contract in AEW and has since wrestled big-time matches for the promotion, fans have been conscious of “Stroke Daddy's” relationship with Rhodes for some time, and have consistently worried that he could jump ship to The Fed in the future if he wasn't happy with his role in AEW. Even if Starks can get a few dollars from the ordeal, that damage, unfortunately, will live on in the minds of some fans forever, even if Starks ends up joing the Bullet Club by July.