Ricky Saints Likes Tribalism in Wrestling, to a Certain Extent

Since starting his professional wrestling career back in 2012, Ricky Saints has been around the block, wrestling for multiple promotions. Saints is currently plying his trade in WWE's developmental brand NXT, where he has held both the NXT Championship and North American title.

He was previously employed by WWE's main competitor, All Elite Wrestling, for about five years. Before that, his first major stint with a televised wrestling promotion was with the National Wrestling Alliance.

Representing your team

While speaking with the Battleground Podcast on iHeart Radio, Saints was asked about the nature of tribalism between the fan bases, relating the situation to his travels between multiple promotions.

"I think it's a little bit more sensitive and touchy just for the fact that we're all on social media, so it's a little bit more saturated. But then when you actually go out into the crowds and you go to these live events like in Nashville, no one cared, you know what I'm saying?"
Ricky Saints

Saints continues on to say.

"There were people who were fans of me from AEW, people who were fans of me from NWA, people who are fans of me now; they all mesh, they all share a commonality. I do think that it is kind of cool, to a certain degree, that people have such an ownership and stake in a specific company or a specific wrestler. I do find that I like the fondness of that because if you ain’t got passion for your team, then what are you doing?”
Ricky Saints

A point is made that while two people can like different sports teams, that doesn't mean they can't be respectful or even friends.

Saints' NXT run so far

Having only been in NXT for a year at this point, Ricky Saints burst on the scene and quickly made a name for himself.

Just a little over a month after debuting, he would capture the NXT North American Championship from Shawn Spears, holding said title for 56 days. He'd recover by dethroning Oba Femi for the NXT Championship at NXT No Mercy that September.

.@joehendry was NOT amused 😒@starkmanjones pic.twitter.com/HgeRtanWeM
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 20, 2026

Now no longer holding the top prize in NXT, Saints is attempting to reclaim the title as he faces current champion Joe Hendry this Saturday at NXT Vengeance Day.