Ricky Saints Reacts to “Tony Fumbled” Chants After NXT Title Win

Ricky Saints has wasted no time flipping the script on his wrestling career—and fans aren’t letting his past in AEW go unnoticed.

The newly crowned NXT North American Champion—formerly known as Ricky Starks in AEW—has already ignited the crowd at the WWE Performance Center, with chants of “Tony fumbled!” breaking out during his appearances. The jab is squarely aimed at AEW boss Tony Khan, with fans making it clear they think Khan dropped the ball by not pushing Saints harder.

But Saints? He’s staying focused on the present. “My reaction is, it’s not about what happened in the past. Let’s focus on now and my work that I’m doing now,” Saints told Good Karma Wrestling. “I appreciate the sentiment that they care about me and have opinions about the situation, but let’s not put somebody else down.”

Saints signed with AEW in 2020 and spent five years with the company before making the jump to NXT, where he’s already making headlines. Less than two months after his debut, he captured the NXT North American Championship—proving WWE is wasting no time capitalizing on his star power.

Now, Saints is set to defend his title against Ethan Page at NXT Stand & Deliver, with all eyes on how far he can go in WWE.

AEW fans might be salty about how things played out, but Ricky Saints is done looking in the rearview mirror.