Shawn Spears knows what his role is in AEW and he’s ready to play that role until he “rides off into the sunset.”
The former Pinnacle member discussed this topic during a recent interview with WrestleZone. Spears begins by saying that he has always been a fan of wrestlers who are more character-driven than anything else.
I’ve always been a very big character driven person. I grew up on some of [the best like] Mr. Perfect, like Rick Rude and Rick Martel, I grew up on characters. I’m a big believer in people getting invested in characters, I think nowadays it’s a lost concept to a degree. There is still a lot of characters in wrestling, but there seems to be a lot of emphasis on the moves. I equate it to an actor with a script, Denzel Washington, in my opinion, is one of the greatest actors of all time. How he worked on a paper to him are his tools. Wrestling moves to us are just tools. It’s the character that people get invested in, not necessarily the words on a page or the moves in the ring. So I’ll always be driven towards being a character type person. The stuff with the accountabilibuddy and throwing out the heys, I kind of like to have layers to that character, whether that be comedic or [an] angry [man] who swings a chair and hits someone, it’s very euphoric for him quote on quote. But these are just all layers to one Shawn Spears. So whether it’s the chairman or the ten stuff, I like to be as wide ranged as possible. I remember Dusty telling me back in the FCW days, ‘Many times in this business you’re gonna be handed chicken shit, it’s just a matter of not whether you can turn it into chicken salad.’ That’s what makes a pro and I’d like to think that anything I’ve been handed, whether it be for me specifically or to highlight everyone around me, I have turned everything that I have been given to chicken salad every single time.
Later in the conversation Spears discussed the role that he currently has in AEW, and is ready to wrestle some “bangers” with top opponents before he officially hangs up his boots for good.
So whether or not I’m going to be highlighted coming back, I don’t think that’s going to be a thing. I think my role in AEW is pretty set. I, for lack of a better [phrase], I don’t care anymore. I want to go out and have banger matches, I wanna wrestle Jay White, I wanna wrestle FTR, I wanna wrestle Wardlow, I wanna wrestle Max, I wanna wrestle these guys because I’m winding down. My time is coming to an end. I wanna have banger matches before I’m done, get it out of my system and ride off into the sunset.
In a separate interview, Spears spoke about his relationship with Tony Khan and how AEW gave him time off when he really needed it. You can read about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)