One of the bigger surprise returns this year was Shawn Spears, who popped up in NXT several weeks ago and already has a pair of big singles wins.
Fightful recently spoke with Spears about his NXT return, as well as why he decided to depart AEW. That full interview will be released next week, but Fightful Select has released snippets of that interview, which contains an interesting backstage tidbit about Spears.
The Chairman pitched to be in the 2024 Royal Rumble match once he knew his WWE return was happening. Unfortunately for him, the lineup has been solidified by that point.