Shawn Spears Discusses Returning To WWE Under Own Character Name
When Shawn Spears made his surprise return to WWE in February 2024, some fans were surprised that he arrived as Shawn Spears rather than the Tye Dillinger gimmick he used during his first run in WWE. Spears' "Perfect 10" gimmick made him immensely popular with the "WWE NXT" crowd in particular.
After returning to WWE following his AEW exit, some may have suspected that he would resume his role as Dillinger. But during a recent appearance on Chris Van Vliet's "Insight" podcast, Spears explained that the name Tye Dillinger has some sentimental value to him.
"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," said the "NXT" star.
When he returned to the independent scene in 2019 and later joined AEW, the former Tye Dillinger went back to the Shawn Spears ring name.
Keeping The Shawn Spears Name Was His Idea
Shawn Spears revealed that keeping the name he used on the independent scene, as well as AEW, was a decision he made to give himself a fresh start in WWE.
"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," said Spears. "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 that had the option. And, yeah, we're still building, baby, still building."
To go along with the name, Spears also kept his gimmick of "The Chairman" when he returned to WWE, a role he used frequently during his first year with AEW in 2019.
Please credit "Insight" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.