With the surprisingly quick(it was announced that he was no longer with AEW tuesday Afternoon, and he debuted in NXT that night) introduction of Ricky Starks as a member of the NXT roster, I've come up with a few possible gimmicks if WWE can't bring themselves to let this man use the name that got him to this stage In his career.
Heel it up, strike a pose, Dynamite!
Charles H.(as in Hustle) is a young risk taker who cut his teeth in bingo halls of New York. He has wrestled in the indy scene for years, and is now in NXT to test his luck against the future of Professional Wrestling. ♤
Pair him with Lexis King. Don't give 'em a tag name, but call their team finish the Roaring Straight.
Main part of this gimmick is that he likes to finish feuds by having the opponent wager an important item...First feud sees him defeating Wes Lee and rewriting the friendship of the Rascalz.
For the weeks that follow, re-edited skits from their TNA run are shown(With TNA and WWE being on good terms, this CAN actually happen, and the lulz from such a silly collab would be much appreciated), replacing Lee with Starks, as well as backstage segments with the group dunking on Wes Lee about never being cool enough to hang out with the Rascalz.
Face that could possibly run that place.
Miles Johnson is a crowd pleasing pro wrestler, who wants to be the modern day hero that all kids can look up to, but has an edge about him that prevents the adults from booing him out of the arena in disgust.
The name being reference to the Rock comparisons he's received in the past. Miles also sounds like a very NXT-centric rebrand to me.
First feud is with Theory. Let him cook on the mic so everybody can see what all the hype is about.
I hope they just let him use Ricky Starks as his name. I know WWE likes to own personas for the purpose of getting most of the money from merch sales...but you're not gonna have that many chances for the best scenario in this type of situation.
What is the best scenario?
Danielson being called Daniel Bryan was kinda weird for a lil while, but people got used to it. You can't do the same thing in this case by calling Starks something like... Starkly Rickles, for example. 🤭