Shawn Spears was once in the NXT system as Tye Dillinger. In NXT, he was a very popular character with his “Perfect 10” gimmick. When he transitioned to the Smackdown roster in 2017, things didn’t work out so well.
Joining All Elite Wrestling in 2019, Shawn Spears entered a new landscape with new rules and a lot more freedom.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo, Spears called the creative freedom he now has in his new home an exciting new challenge. However, never one to lose sight of his bravado, Spears would also call himself the most well-rounded player on the roster.
Denise Salcedo sent WrestleZone the following quotes.
Shawn Spears Says He Is “The Most Well Rounded Performer AEW Has”
I think in my time in AEW, I haven’t been put in a very prominent position. I came in very high profile against Cody, which anybody in that spot is gonna be high profile when you’re facing a guy like that but that was in a time when there was no AEW Dynamite yet that received a lot of attention. Since then I think I have shown a lot of versatility…and I ‘ve proven that I am pound for pound the most well-rounded performer AEW has. I even put myself up against anybody on that roster in terms of being able to adapt to any situation on any given night, in any given moment and that just comes with nearly twenty years of experience and paying attention to the guys that I’ve tried to emulate throughout my career… I also feel I’ve earned trust, because I believe in doing the right thing, I believe in professionalism, I believe in putting on the best possible match regardless of the scenario for our audience.
Shawn Spears Talks About The Creative Freedom In AEW and Says It’s “The Most Exciting” Challenge
Coming in the door I heard that talent was gonna have creative freedom. I heard they were pretty much gonna have to put everything on their shoulders, whether it was gonna succeed or fail, it was gonna be on the talent, and I was like ‘okay well there is still gonna be some restrictions and some guidelines and there really isn’t.’ And that is a beautiful thing for someone that’s been around for 20 years and someone who’s been around for 2 years, just coming into the door of AEW. The ownership of your career is on you, so that is the biggest difference and that’s the most exciting challenge with All Elite Wrestling; is to week in and week out, to come up with different content and come up with a different way to present yourself and present talent to the world and hopefully get people involved and get people watching the product.
You can check out the full interview below:
