I think it just came down to a personal want, in terms of wanting to contribute a little bit more — both in front of the camera and behind the camera. I had a wonderful time in AEW. I have — and have had — a great relationship with Tony Khan. You’re never going to hear me say anything bad about that guy. Same thing with a lot of the EVPs, talent, everything. I had a wonderful time. I got to learn a lot about myself as a businessman, and a lot more of what not to do, and a little bit more so of — it’s ok to kind of put your foot down. It’s ok to kind of have faith in what you’re worth and faith in your ability and things like that. So it was a really good learning process in terms of being an individual man in different company. But man, my time there was special, getting to work with all the top guys based on a lot of storylines that I was in with [MJF] and FTR and things like that. So a lot of things that I would have never gotten to do, I think in my career, I was very fortunate enough to do there.
Me: Shawn Spears was in AEW??? Ohhhhh yeeeaaaahhhhhh, I remember that now. Vaugely.
So yeah. I wouldn’t bad mouth a guy who signed me to a contract, and then basically said “hey, here’s some catering” for however many years his contract was either.
Spears was fairly regularly featured on AEW television. Most of his time spent “in catering” was actually time he spent at home with his newborn child.
Dude was Cody’s first big feud, was the most memorable part of Stadium Stampede 2, and had a lot of other great moments there. His last year or two he was barely there, sure, but he was a good solid upper-midcard heel for a while.