Shawn Spears will be a free agent soon.
According to a new report from Fightful (via Fightful Select), Spears will be a free agent on January 1. It was noted that Spears’ departure was amicable.
Spears had been with AEW since 2019. His first feud was against Cody Rhodes, where he made his name as ‘The Chairman.’ He was also part of The Pinnacle, but has been used sparingly in recent months.
Shawn Spears’ last match for AEW was in September, as he was a participant in the Over Budget Charity Battle Royal on the AEW All Out Zero Hour show. Prior to that, his last match was a TNT Championship loss to Luchasaurus at Battle Of The Belts VII in Canada.
Spears and his wife, Cassie Lee, recently announced they are expecting their second child.
Update: Shawn Spears confirmed his departure, writing the following on Twitter:
What a wonderful time it has been.
Thank you @AEW for allowing me to be there from the ground level. It’s been a fantastic 5 years of growth and personal development.
This is a personal choice and one that is best for me and my family at this time. Thank you to all, staff and talent alike for the memories ❤️ 10
Most importantly, to the incredible fans of ALL professional wrestling:
I love you guys.
I really do.
Shawn Spears on Twitter
Rick Martel
Shawn Spears spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about the inspiration Rick Martel had on him while growing up. Spears said he believes Martel had a very strong character for his era and highlighted what made him so great.
“Yeah, absolutely. I think you nailed it on the head where you said he had a very strong character for his generation, for his era,” Shawn Spears said. “Because you had a guy like Rick Martel who was in incredible shape, has the charisma just like anybody else, and has this Model character. At that time, there was Duke The Dumpster, the Gobbledy Gooker, the over-the-top characters that we’ve kind of gone away with since, which is great, it’s fine.
“But that character in specific could work then, and it could work now. Same thing with The Million Dollar Man. I think it could work nowadays; it’s just the different spin that’s put on it. I don’t know if you watched any Perfect Ten stuff. But that terrible cartwheel that I do, I stole that from him. Because he used to whip into the ropes, go for a backdrop. And then he stopped short, do a cartwheel, cheer and pop himself.
I don’t want to be a cool heel doing cool moves
“He had every dislikable quality, and he was his own biggest fan. That’s one of those things I took and implemented in my — especially when I’m on the heel side of things; I don’t do a lot of moves when I’m a heel. [You] save a lot of that for the good offense; I can do all the springboards and all the shit off the top rope, I can do all that. I save a lot of that for my babyface.
“I don’t want to be a cool heel that’s doing cool moves; I want to be booed, I want to be disliked, I want qualities about me as a character that is dislikable. Because that, to me, is truly what a heel is. A heel doesn’t believe he’s wrong, and Rick Martel never thought he did anything wrong. That’s what made him so great. So yes, to answer your question, I do pull from guys like him. [And] Mr. Perfect, and Rick Rude, just epic performers and underrated; I would 100% agree. But man, incredible performer.”
