Shawn Spears Talks Not Being Featured Prominently In AEW Since Cody Feud
Shawn Spears entered AEW with some momentum when he turned on Cody with a chair shot to the head that required 13 staples. Since his initial program with The American Nightmare, however, Spears seems to have been placed on the back burner.
The self-titled "Chairman" of AEW recently joined Instinct Culture for an interview and discussed his time with All Elite Wrestling and mentioned even though he hasn't been put in the spotlight, he still feels that he is the most well-rounded performer on the roster.
"I think in my time in AEW, I haven't been put in a very prominent position," Spears admitted. "I came in very high profile against Cody, which anybody in that spot is gonna be high profile when you're facing a guy like that but that was in a time when there was no AEW Dynamite yet that received a lot of attention. Since then I think I have shown a lot of versatility...and I've proven that I am pound for pound the most well rounded performer AEW has.
"I even put myself up against anybody on that roster," Shawn continued. "In terms of being able to adapt to any situation on any given night, in any given moment and that just comes with nearly twenty years of experience and paying attention to the guys that I've tried to emulate throughout my career. I also feel I've earned trust, because I believe in doing the right thing. I believe in professionalism and I believe in putting on the best possible match regardless of the scenario for our audience."
One of the many things that sets AEW apart from other promotions, primarily the much larger WWE, is the creative freedom given to the wrestlers. For better or worse, it's up to the talent to develop their characters and promos. Spears revealed what a welcomed challenge that was for him at this stage in his career.
"Coming in the door I heard that talent was gonna have creative freedom," Spears said. "I heard they were pretty much gonna have to put everything on their shoulders, whether it was gonna succeed or fail. I thought, 'Okay well there is still gonna be some restrictions and some guidelines,' but there really isn't."
"That is a beautiful thing for someone that's been around for 20 years as well as someone who's been around for 2 years," Spears continued. "The ownership of your career is on you, so that is the biggest difference and that's the most exciting challenge with All Elite Wrestling; to week in and week out come up with different content and come up with a different way to present yourself and present talent to the world and hopefully get people involved and get people watching the product."