There are some people who feel like they were made for the spotlight in WWE. Ricky Saints is one of them.
WWE
Sitting across from him over Zoom, it’s hard not to be struck by the mix of calm confidence and restless energy. This is a man who talks about success the way some people talk about survival, not as a nice-to-have, but as the only logical outcome of years of risk, graft, and self-belief.
Saints has already carved out an impressive run in WWE: multiple title reigns in NXT, standout performances on SmackDown, and pay-per-view bangers opposite the likes of Trick Williams. Yet, despite the accolades, he speaks like someone still climbing, not someone who’s reached the summit. “I feel very accomplished,” he says early on, reflecting on this current chapter of his career, “but I still… there’s still a lot that I want to do.”
For Saints, the story is as much about the struggle as it is about the spotlight, about changing in grimy locker rooms and bathroom corners in the NWA days, about leaving companies, starting from scratch, gambling on himself again and again.
“There is a lot of hard work that has happened, and it still is,” he explains. “You still have to do the same stuff. But it’s been great. This has been a really wonderful time, especially since May. I’ve done a lot, and I want to make sure I keep that momentum going.”
He pauses, then adds something that feels like the thesis of his whole career. “In my career I have had to start over multiple times. You know, leaving a company and then starting new somewhere else, and then starting new when you get to the main roster. There’s a lot of gambling that has been documented in my career, but I don’t think that would be a Ricky Saints career if I didn’t take a gamble on myself and bet everything on myself and see how it plays out.”
This is the core of Ricky Saints: a man who knows exactly what he’s worth, and is willing to risk everything to prove it.
The Born Heel (That You Can’t Help But Like A Bit)
In modern wrestling, there’s a rare type of character who can be despicable and magnetic at the same time. That “love to hate him, hate that you love him” energy. Saints lives squarely in that sweet spot.
Fans and critics alike have been quick to compare him to some of the all-time greats on the mic, The Rock, especially. But there’s another mega comparison that feels even more apt: the late, great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. When I put that to him, his face lights up.
“You’re the first person to actually bring up Roddy Piper, which I appreciate,” he says, genuinely pleased. “I always get these comparisons to The Rock and whatnot, and they are very endearing because, I mean, who better to be compared to than The Rock or Roddy Piper?”
He doesn’t quite paint himself as a pure villain, though. Saints understands that his appeal is more nuanced than that – more about texture than alignment. “I don’t know if I ever consider myself to be… I can be somewhat antagonising for sure. I can get under your skin easily,” he laughs. “But I think there’s a certain charm to me that also lends itself to be like, ‘Well, you know, this guy’s kind of a jerk, but I do like him.’ I think that’s the best place to be in in life, that kind of guy.”
This is what makes him fascinating to watch in WWE’s current landscape. He’s not trying to fit a neatly defined “good guy” or “bad guy” box. Instead, he’s carving out a space where charisma, sharp edges, and vulnerability coexist. “Especially being here, it is interesting to navigate that and kind of explore some of that a little bit more, just because of the landscape that we’re in,” he says. There’s an excitement in his voice – the sound of someone who knows they’re only just getting started.
Respect
Wrestling is an industry fuelled by respect, earned in lockers rooms, on the road, and in the ring. Saints has it from some heavy hitters. Cody Rhodes has spoken highly of him. Shawn Michaels, too. He’s shared space and screen time with some of the very best in the world.
So who does Ricky Saints look at in that way? Who does he see as “next up” the way others once saw him? “Oh man, in terms of come up, that’s a hard one,” he admits, while smirking a little. “You know why? Because I don’t really see anyone else like that on my level.”
It sounds cocky on paper; in person, it doesn’t feel like arrogance, more like the inevitable by-product of someone who has had to back himself at every turn. He quickly pivots to acknowledge the grind shared across the locker room. “Listen, there’s a lot of great talent down at NXT. There’s a lot of great talent on Raw and SmackDown, actually. So it’s hard to even give you a name for any of that. I will tell you this: the boys and the men and women on this roster, they work very hard. So I think respect is a very mutual thing amongst all of us.”
Mutual respect, but an unshakeable belief that no one else is doing it quite like he is. That’s very much Ricky Saints.
Freestyling the epic entrance
On our platform, we spend a lot of time around music, movement, and performance – the kind of stuff that lives in that space between choreography and instinct. And one of the most striking parts of Saints’ presentation in WWE is his entrance: the strut, the timing, the way he seems to dance on the edge of the beat without ever losing it.
So how much of that is planned? Turns out, almost none. “I don’t really practice my entrance,” he reveals. “You’ll hear wrestlers say some stuff like that – I generally don’t. Most of the stuff, really everything that you’ve seen so far, is only because I’ve just done it out there.”
He explains that it’s all about feel. “I can hear the music, and I’m just like, well, there has to be a beat here, and I’ll just do whatever based off of how I feel and what that sounds like to me. So there’s times where I’ll do something extra, a little bit more funky than last time because I’m just feeling the music.”
It’s all off the cuff, all in the moment. “It’s on the whim. It’s right off the cuff, and I think that’s how it should be,” he continues. “We’re too formulaic and over-rehearsed and too polished. I don’t like that. Let’s have some real, some real fun, some real genuine moments, so to speak.”
That anti-polish philosophy sums him up perfectly: too good not to be big time, too raw to ever be boring.
UK Garage and pop music
At Soundsphere, if we really want to get to know someone, we ask about their playlists. Saints’ current rotation is a wonderfully eclectic reflection of a guy who doesn’t like being put in one box, musically or professionally. “So I’ve been listening to a lot of – you’re not gonna believe this – but like UK Garage from the late 90s,” he says, grinning. “I really love some of that stuff.”
We end up down a rabbit hole of classics, the kind of tunes that defined nights out and childhoods on this side of the pond – and he’s genuinely into it. He even shouts out PinkPantheress for sampling the sound and sings the hook from “Gotta Get Thru This” with real affection.
“I love all that stuff,” he says.
From there, the list gets even broader: Drake, Kodak Black, Aretha Franklin. Then there’s the curveball that somehow makes perfect sense: Simply Red. “I was just listening to Simply Red yesterday,” he says. “‘Sunrise’ is one of my favourite songs.”
It’s an unexpected detail that humanises him, the idea that this sharp-talking, high-energy WWE star is walking around vibing to Mick Hucknall? Yeah, but that’s Saints all over: layered, surprising, never quite what you expect him to be.
Music, he admits, doesn’t always get much of a look-in right before he walks through the curtain. “I don’t really get a lot of time to listen to music before I go out, just because I’m so anxious,” he says. That anxiety might shock fans who only know the outward persona: the guy who stalks to the ring dripping with swagger. But Saints is clear – the nerves are real. They’re just not the whole story. “For sure,” he says, when I ask if he flips a switch before he goes out there. “But the anxiety is more… I just hate the hurry up and wait feeling of it. I hate waiting. That’s my biggest thing. I hate that. That’s the biggest feeling of that whole situation, is like, ‘Oh, I gotta wait,’ and I don’t want to wait because my body’s ready to just go.”
Then, just like his music hits, everything aligns.“The minute I walk out, I’m already good,” he says. “That’s the key. The minute I walk out, everything is good. We’re back in alignment.”
The Future: Close To The Chest, Eyes On The Top
On the Battleground podcast, Saints previously spoke about curiosity, excitement, and passion being the engines that drive him. Those ideas are still clearly at the heart of how he approaches his career.
When I ask what the future of the Ricky Saints character looks like in WWE, especially after the shifts we’ve already seen, the title wins, the evolution – he smiles like someone who knows more than he’s willing to share. “You know, I may keep that close to the heart on that one,” he says. “Obviously, I’m going to stay continuously doing what I do, but more importantly, I’m going to the top.”
He talks about a “meteoric rise” that’s already happening in front of everyone, and he believes fans will look back at this era as the moment it all truly clicked. “I think that in itself is history,” he says. “I think that in itself is like, ‘Yes, that’s what we waited for for Ricky.’”
There’s SummerSlam – a two-night spectacular on August 1 and 2 – which he describes as one of his favourite events of the year. There’s Money in the Bank heading to his hometown of New Orleans in October, where he’ll be doing special on-location bits for fans. And beyond that, there’s whatever he’s cooking creatively, quietly, on his own terms.
If you want to keep up with him, he points people to his Instagram,@starkybaby: “You’ll get great pictures, cool videos. It’s just who I am.”
And for anyone who doubted whether he’d ever get here? He doesn’t need to cut a promo, he just gestures at the reality of his success. “Just look at it. Look at everything that I’ve done,” he says. “The proof is in the pudding on that. If you doubted me, terrible choice. If you supported me, you made the best choice of your entire life. And now I can only repay you back, for those who supported me, by continuously being who I am, being successful, and still getting after it.”
For Ricky Saints, the work isn’t done. The rise isn’t over. The gamble is still on, and from where he’s standing, he’s already holding the winning hand.