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Ricky Starks Recalls Getting Slapped With Tuna Salad By Ryback On Raw

January 11, 2023 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Ricky Starks Ryback 2013 WWE Raw Image Credit: WWE

Ricky Starks appeared as an extra on Raw in 2013 where he got slapped with tuna salad by Ryback, and he recently looked back on the segment. Starks was in a segment with Ryback on the July 29th, 2013 episode of Raw where he was billed as an “arena worker” and ended up running afoul of Ryback, who slapped him with tuna salad and then put him through a table as you can see below.

Starks was a guest on Rewind With Besa and discussed the spot, and you can check out some highlights below:

On doing multiple takes of the spot: “That situation happened where, that was at the Laredo Energy Center. And that was the third take of somebody slapping me in my ear with tuna salad by the way. And I think at the time they only put ‘Arena Work[er],’ because you know, who cares about the name of the guy getting slammed through the table? We’re worried about the guy doing the slamming.”

On getting direction for the segment: “I should have won an Oscar for that performance. I’m telling you, I should have won an Oscar for it! I had these people come to me after the first take and say, ‘Hey, maybe that’s a little too Gone with the Wind, maybe that’s a little too much ‘raisin in the sun’ performance. We don’t need that, we need a little more timid, scared.’ I said, ‘Bet.'”

On the aftermath: “Afterward, they bought me a new t-shirt, Calvin Klein, they bought me new shoes because I got them dirty, and afterward the guy who slammed me he said, ‘thank you for that.’ Not to mention, four years later when I went back to Vegas for Thanksgiving, I saw that dude, his name’s Ryback, in the gym. And [he] was like, ‘Hey man, thank you for that. Let me give you some advice on how to make a trial coming up for WWE.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Rewind With Besa with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

article topics :

Ricky Starks, Ryback, WWE, Jeremy Thomas