Shawn Spears talks taking his career into his own hands after leaving WWE.
For years, Spears was featured on NXT and WWE television as Tye Dillinger, but never really broke through as a champion, having never won a title during his tenure with the company. Despite how he felt about being considered a reliable wrestler in WWE, Spears, in an interview with Muscle & Fitness, felt he wasn't able to overcome "the glass ceiling" that was placed over his head.
"I take great pride in being able to work with anybody. Whether it be a brand-new talent, whether it be someone who has been in wrestling. for four or five years, or even 15 to 20, I take pride in being able to cover the spectrum when it comes down to match preparation and execution. But that can also pigeonhole you, and I was pigeonholed for quite a long time. On one hand, I was very reliable when they (WWE) needed something done. I was there and I got it done, but at the same time I couldn’t break through the glass ceiling that seemed to be placed over my head. Now, that has changed," Spears said.
But now that Spears is with AEW, he said he feels comfortable with the decision to take his career into his own hands. Spears added that it is a decision that he will look back decades from now and say he did it the way he wanted to.
"I have taken my career into my own hands, been given an opportunity to be on a worldwide platform (in AEW) with no restrictions. Now, this is all on me. Now there's no more 'Oh, well, maybe you are being held back or it's not him it’s creative.' I want all that out of the way, I want everything to fall on my shoulders now. Regardless of what happens, when I’m seventy years old, I can look back and say that I did this the way I wanted to, on my terms, and I gave it everything I got," Spears said.
Spears was in a marquee match at AEW's "All Out" show on August 31, losing to Cody Rhodes. The full interview between Spears and Muscle & Fitness can be read here.
