Ricky Starks says he’s permanently replacing Mark Henry on Rampage’s announce team

From the outset, it sounded like the four man booth AEW announced for Rampage was a work in progress. And this past Friday, when Mark Henry wasn’t at the desk calling all the action, it seemed like the experiment of having the Hall of Famer as part of the announce team might be a short one.

According to Ricky Starks, that decision is official. The FTW champ was in Henry’s place on the Sept. 17 edition of Rampage. Starks told WrestleTalk that change is a permanent one.

“I am definitely proud of AEW, the work that I’ve done in AEW, and the work that I continue to do. And the fact that I think so much that they appreciate me that they made me a permanent commentator for Rampage, replacing Mark [Henry].

“So, I love that fact, I love the fact that the work that I’ve done with Sting, Darby (Allin), and all of these things in such a small timeframe, will last on forever.

“I want more though. I really do, I really want to push myself more and really explore the depths of my talent and get out of my comfort zone a bit.”

Henry still handled the pre-main event interview segment on the latest Rampage, so that could be a sign AEW is just transitioning him to a different role on the broadcast. It would also make some sense for the fourth chair (and the third one, usually occupied by Chris Jericho, too) to rotate based on storylines and match cards, but we’ll see what AEW has in mind.

Thoughts on Rampage’s Starks-for-Henry swap?