Shawn Spears talks returning to WWE, his time in AEW, Cassie Lee, more

[Chris]

Shawn Spears On Leaving AEW, WWE Return, Cody Rhodes Friendship, Giving Me 20 Chops

Shawn Spears On Leaving AEW, WWE Return, Cody Rhodes Friendship, Giving Me 20 Chops

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On balancing work and family life:

"Time-wise, and a lot of it is on me, because I still have Flat Backs with Breeze, so we still run that on a weekly basis. The schedule can be difficult, but that's why Cass is a trooper. She holds down the fort. We do have a nanny who's wonderful and Austin is head over heels in love with her and her him. We have a good team around us that helps maximize the time that we do get together and things like that. So it does get pretty hectic, but it's for the short term. I'd rather do this and grind it out now, while they're young, and while they don't understand when I start leaving, and he recognizes when I leave, and he starts crying at the door, that's when I'm going to have to kind of start adjusting schedules and times a little bit."

On how being a dad has changed him:

"So I think we were kind of talking about this, it makes me watch my mouth a little bit more. It makes me a little more cautious about what I'm watching on TV, a little bit more. A lot of times, being busy and things like that. You know, a lot of us that are on the move, or a lot of us that have excess things going on, like other businesses or properties or other things like that, I'm on my phone a lot. I do a lot of that through that. So I have to be a little more aware that when he's in the room and he says, Dad, I can hear him. I'm not lost in something else, my attention has to be divided at the right times. So it's made me a lot more self aware. I've definitely in an industry where you kind of have to put yourself first for a extended period of time in order to get to certain heights, I've been easily and very happily able to put myself second, third and fourth, if need be, without any second thought. So, yeah, it changes you in different ways. I have known you for a long time. You're a good human being. It doesn't change your perspective on how you operate in life, or anything like that. It might make you more aware now, because you have someone watching you at all times."

On coming back 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 it 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 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, 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, fresh slate. Let's see what we can do. So it meant a lot that I had that had the option. And, yeah, we're still building, baby, still building."

On keeping his debut a secret:

"You have the team around you, you know who the team is and you keep your mouth shut. That's the only way to keep a secret nowadays. Keep your mouth shut. Just don't tell anybody. I think maybe I knew, Matt Bloom, Shawn Michaels and Triple H, that was it."

On his return and the 10 chants:

"They could still work. They can still work today. I love it because it just tells me that at some point in my career, I did something that was able to allow people to connect with each other, [the audience remembers you] That's a big thing. I mean, that's the thing about wrestling fans, man, they're so loyal. They could hate me one week and love me the next week, and then that just goes back and forth. But at the end of the day, we've had this conversation before. They're so loyal. They're the most loyal fan base on this planet, in my opinion. I think Bret Hart just came back last week in Calgary, stuff like that. But I think he said his famous line, the best there is.. and that the second he said The best everybody is already echoing, they remember. If you're in this industry for an extended period of time, there's nothing more gratifying than remembering you."

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 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 if leaving AEW on his own terms was similar to leaving WWE on his own terms in 2019:

"Yes, it was. I asked it on both occasions. It just felt like my time at those different time periods of my life. I had maximized my time in those certain situations. So I thought it was time for me to leave in 2019, I needed to grow as a performer and as a human being. I got to do that for five years with AEW and again, I always kind of go with inklings, like these internal gut feelings. Everybody always says follow your gut. Sometimes what I have learned for me personally is that I have confused those actual gut feelings with what I think is a gut feeling. So I made a lot of wrong decisions in my younger career, whatnot, or younger life. As time has gone on, through learning, through ups and downs and bad calls, I've actually been able to go, oh no, that's not the right feeling. I remember what that's like. This actually feels like the right call. So luckily, I've been able to make the right calls career-wise. But that is heavily based on the relationships that I've created throughout those years. No one gets anything done by themselves. Everybody needs kind of a helping hand, so to speak. Professionalism takes precedence. It will carry you further than you could possibly imagine. So that's what I tell a lot of young talents today. But leaving both companies at different time frames was a personal base decision, and it was one that was best selfishly for me at the time."

On returning to WWE:

"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 thought 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. And 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, like, yeah, let's go. Let's do this. So it was kind of a no brainer. I jumped all over it."

On being Stan and being kicked by Shawn Michaels:

"So when they pulled me aside for that, Cyber Sunday 2006. I just gotten down to OVW, and they needed a few extras. So they grabbed me, pulled me over, and this is where I meet Shawn and Hunter for the very first time. They're doing DX, and they're saying, Okay, well, Shawn is talking with Hunter. He's like, maybe I'll talk to him really quick. Shawn turns to me. He goes, What's your name? And this is off [camera], We haven't began rolling yet, but we're gonna roll live here at any minute. My name was Shawn Spears at the time, and I went, Shawn. And he goes, Stan. I'll kick Stan. So he just said, your name is not Shawn, my name's Shawn. Your name is Stan. So he actually gave me the name. No one else did. He just went, I'll kick Stan. I was like, this is the best! He's gonna kick me, just a kid in a candy store. But, yeah, he gave me the name. So I don't know if anybody knew that, but it wasn't creative, it wasn't someone on the writing team or anybody else. Shawn Michaels, you're at fault for Stan."

On an accident leading to his nickname of The Chairman:

"So Cody was an EVP at the time, and we went back and forth on, I think we talked about this before. He said, swing for the fences. I said, hands? [He said] No hands. I went, all right. And you know I love that guy more than you know. He's the godfather to my sons. I think it was maybe a week after I was done feeling horrible about what had happened, I kind of texted him. I said, Hey, man, I think we run this a little bit. Chairs and wrestling have been around since the beginning of time, but how can we kind of spin it? How can we make it a little bit different? How can we add an element to my entrance? How can we add an element to the danger as a character. How can we make something that's been around different, or put a little spin on it, which is wrestling in general. So what if I just started calling myself the chairman? He goes, love it, and that was it."

On possibly returning at number 10 in the 2024 Royal Rumble:

"I think it was too tight of a time frame. Once everything had to be settled and finalized. I think it was tight. But again, things evolve I think it was a last minute thing. Obviously, Royal Rumble is a massive event every year for WWE. So I think I just missed it, but I shot it out there, and they're just like, oh, things are done. Things are set. Okay. It was just down the street. I was just down the street. I was ready. I was ready just in case I had some stuff in the mix, worked out, made up and just in case. Always be ready, but we never have to get ready."

On fans missing Cassie Lee:

"She watches it a lot. She watches it more than I do. That doesn't mean I don't watch wrestling, it just means I'm busy a lot. I'm around, I can see a lot of stuff. Yeah, she keeps up on it. She still loves watching a lot of her friends, and she's still getting the itch. So she's already weight training, she's doing all that kind of stuff. She's getting back into the mix and things like that. When she feels 100% good to go there's a ring close by, so she plans on getting back into it. She doesn't know to what capacity, meaning no one said anything, no one said hey, when you ready, come on back. Like, not Impact, not anything, but with the working relationship. Who's to say that that's not a possibility? But yeah, she still misses it. I think she still has a little bit of an itch."

On how much longer he intends to keep wrestling:

"I was telling Tara, who's on the medical staff here, who's been here for well over a decade, she's a sweetheart. We were kind of sitting off to the side in the gym, and a lot of the young talent were piecing things together. They were doing some workouts, stuff like that. And a lot of the young talent here are early 20s, or mid-20s max. I was just watching them all, and I just looked at Tara and I said, What's crazy is that right now, not one of them is thinking that one day this will end. They're all in the midst of the love and the passion and the excitement for it, which is a beautiful place to be in, and it will still be like that, even if you're in it for a long time. I still have those things, but the reality of not being able to do this much longer, physically and actively in the ring has crept on me a lot more so in the last four or five years than it ever has before. So when I see young talent not even being a thing and not thinking about that, it's just you realize almost how fast time goes and it puts it into perspective a little bit. I don't sit there and get kind of sad about I sit there and go, Okay, well, let's kind of maximize that time. I feel that way in any venture, just nothing lasts forever if you're lucky enough to be a part of it in some sort of way. That's why I kind of have other responsibilities, other than just in the ring, because I'm excited about that. I love this sh*t. This is all I've ever wanted to do since I saw the Ultimate Warrior beat Honky Tonk Man in like 10 seconds, whatever it was, faster than Punk beat me. But I saw that, and I watched my two uncles jump to their feet and high five each other. I was maybe six or seven, I just went I want to make people do that too. I don't know, that's the only memory I have. That's the catalyst to what all this is. But there's nothing else I want to do. There's nothing else I hope to do. Because of all of this, I get to provide a wonderful life for my kids. So it just I'll miss it. I know I'll miss it, but maximize the time, enjoy the time, whatever you have left."

On betting on himself:

"Maybe it's human nature to always wonder if you made certain right calls and certain things as opposed to sitting back and going I did okay. I know for certain I am in the right spot right now, in it with everything and all the time has gone by and all the decisions that I have made, I can say wholeheartedly that I am in the right spot right now in WWE and NXT, and I'm very confident to say that I will retire and finish everything here. I don't want to go anywhere else, and that's not a shot to anybody else. It's just I feel that everything that has happened in my career, everything's taken place in my life as a human, as a performer, it is all led to be in this exact spot sitting with you right now talking about how good things just happen to work out. Life is good."

On a possible match with Cody Rhodes

"He hit a different level. Right now, we're kind of geared and focused on the CW launch and the CW debut in Chicago, but let me know, you'll probably see him again before I do. That's how busy we both kind of are. And if you do, float it in his ear a little bit, he knows where to find me. I'm not hard to find. I'm not hard to find at all. No chairs, I promise."

What is Shawn Spears grateful for?

"Family, that I get to be a part of this and time."