Ricky Starks has Chris Jericho's number in AEW.

Since the duo became opponents in 2023, “Stroke Daddy” has consistently found ways to get one over on the leader of The Jericho Appreciation Society, even if the JAS has largely been the difference maker in their feud.

Still, after tricking “The Ocho” into accepting a match at Revolution that forbid the members of the JAS to be banned from ringside – even if that was never going to be the case – Starks still had to deal with the task of actually wrestling Jericho at an AEW Pay-Perv-View, which is a whole lot easier said than done considering the 52-year-old's in-ring pedigree.

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Taking the ring in the opening contest of the card, Jericho and Starks found themselves wrestling in front of a crowd split pretty evenly at the start, even if they got more and more “absolute” with each passing moment. Jericho, who hasn't wrestled a singles match longer than 10 minutes since January, looked to be in his “Painmaker” NJPW form, ripping off maneuvers like a springboard dropkick, and an in-transition Code Breaker as he targeted his opponent's already injured ribs. Still, Starks persisted, and while Jericho did get in a Floyd cheap shot while referee Aubrey Edwards was distracted by an outside-the-ring fight between Sammy Guevara and Action Andretti, in the end, “Absolute” proved the bigger man and was able to land a Roshambo for the 1-2-3 on the way to his second-straight win over the original AEW Champion.

If this was an attempt to make Starks look like a star, then mission accomplished, Tony Khan.