They say the third time’s a charm.
Shawn Spears was originally signed to WWE on a developmental deal back in 2006, where he was sent to OVW before eventually debuting in the company’s new developmental Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Spears would eventually make his WWE TV debut on the September 2nd, 2008 episode of WWE’s rebooted version of ECW. However, he was released from WWE on January 9th, 2009.
Spears would spend the next few years on the independent circuit, making an appearance for both Ring of Honor, as well as a dark match with TNA, before finally making his way back to the WWE in September of 2013. Upon his return to WWE, he was sent to NXT and given the name Tye Dillinger. He would spend the next six plus years with WWE before being granted his release from the company in February 2019.
He would make his debut with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at the company’s inaugural PPV event Double or Nothing on May 25th, 2019. Spears would spend the next four years with AEW, until he once again became a free agent on January 1st, 2024.
Shawn Spears would make his way back to WWE for a third time, debuting on the February 27th, 2024 episode of WWE NXT.
He recently was a guest on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” and talks about returning to WWE as Shawn Spears and what led to his return to the company, as well as why he left AEW.
On returning to WWE as Shawn Spears:
“It means a good deal to me. Not to take anything away from the Tye Dillinger thing, only because the way I got the name Tye Dillinger was pretty special to me, so that holds a special place in my heart. I don’t know if I’ve ever explained this. Dillinger I kind of came up with on my own, based on John Dillinger, the famous bank robber from back in the day, just public enemy number one but loved by the public and that kind of stuff. So I always have a fascination with things like that. Then Dusty Rhodes was the one who gave me the name Tye so that name will always kind of carry a special weight to it. But being away and going back to a name that I picked from a baby book way back when I was first starting out and being able to kind of put some weight behind it a little bit in terms of what I was able to do with that over the course of X amount of years. When I came back to WWE, it was presented as an option, which I’ve felt very grateful for. It was a conversation. It was like, how would you like to proceed? Would you want to go back here, or do you want to kind of hang on to this? And I just said, Let’s hang on to this. Let’s see what we can do. Coming back, a fresh start, a fresh slate. Let’s see what we can do. So it meant a lot that I had the option. And yeah, we’re still building baby, still building.”
On why he left AEW:
“I think it just came down to a personal want, in terms of wanting to contribute a little bit more, both in front of the camera and behind the camera. I had a wonderful time in AEW. I have and have had a great relationship with Tony Khan. You’re never going to hear me say anything bad about that guy. Same thing with a lot of EVPs, talent, everything. I had a wonderful time. I got to learn a lot about myself as a businessman, a lot more of what not to do, and a little bit more so of it’s okay to kind of put your foot down. It’s okay to kind of have faith in what you’re worth and faith in your ability and things like that. So it was a really good learning process in terms of being an individual man in a different company. But man, my time there was special, getting to work with all the top guys based on a lot of storylines that I was in with Max and FTR and things like that. So a lot of things that I would have never gotten to do, I think in my career, I was very fortunate enough to do there.”
On what led to the WWE return:
“I immediately reached out to Hunter and just said, I am paraphrasing, I can’t remember exactly what I said, just I’m free if there’s interest, the ball’s in your court kind of thing. He just says, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to contribute.’ And he said, ‘Okay, let me see what can happen.’ Then not long after that, I was in touch and when this presented itself, the chance to come back here, I go hold on a second. So you’re telling me, I get to go back to a time frame that was one of my favorites in my career. I get to be around a lot of the coaches that help kind of build me up to this point and I get to be under Shawn Michaels. I get to understand how he thinks, I get to work and see how he operates. Then I get to kind of pass that knowledge down to kids, and I get to pass that on to students at Flat Backs, and I get to be in my bed every night. Yeah, let’s go. Let’s do this. So it was kind of a no brainer. I jumped all over it.”
You can watch the entire sit down interview with Shawn Spears on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” below.
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