He is a Perfect 10……. Shawn Spears!!!!
Please allow me to start by stating that I have been waiting an absolute age to write an article regarding my favourite professional Wrestler, Shawn Spears. Someone who helped guide my loneliness through the Covid Pandemic not only via his backlog of wrestling content but through his merchandise and interaction with me personally, albeit minor interaction but one comment changed not only my mindset but my entire life. That comment is the header for this article and it simply read “To Josh, NOTHING is ever out of reach”. That is a Monika that I have lived by ever since, I am forever reminded and grateful for that. It might be too deep for me to state that Professional Wrestling saved my life but Shawn Spears truly did that.
Anyway, lets move on to a very unique and storied career and take you back in time to Shawn Spears, Gavin Spears and of course The Perfect 10, Tye Dillinger.
Born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Ronnie Arneill attended Laura Secord Secondary School. He played hockey for over ten years until he decided to leave the sport and enter professional wrestling. During his childhood, he grew up a fan of Rick Rude, Rick Martel, and Mr. Perfect. All of those personas are easy to see in the reflection of the character work over the years and still to the present day.
Arneill trained at the Hart Wrestling school in Cambridge Ontario with Smith Hart, Ike Shaw & Waldo Von Erich before then training at the Wrestleplex school with fellow Canadian and future NXT rival Eric Young before further training from Derek Wylde and Cody Deaner. Before officially debuting in March 2002 as Shawn Spears, Ronnie began working for some of the biggest indepenpendant promotions throughout Ontario & the US, including BCW (Border City Wrestling), World Xtreme Wrestling & Blood, Sweat and Ears.
Forwarding to the latter part of 2003, Shawn Spears defeated Knox at an NSPW (Neo Spirit Wrestling) event in St Catherines and closing the year working on a NSW (New School Wrestling) show entitled History in the making where Shawn teamed with Jake O’Reilly in a losing effort against the team of Crazzy Steve & Hayden Avery.
2004 would enter and whilst Spears would continue to compete for NSPW, it was in September of that year where he would compete in a triple threat match facing Drew Blood & Kris Chambers for WXW, a match won by Drew Blood. The latter part of 2004 saw Spears booked for numerous independent companies including ESW (Empire State Wrestling) but on December 18th he would face the late Brodie Lee at NWA Upstate X-Max Chaos held in New York.
2005 was right around the corner and several opportunities followed including a high profile match for WWE on Sunday Night Heat where Shawn would tag with Michael Yamaha to face The Hurricane & Rosey, whilst being unsuccessful in this bout, this would have handed Spears some knowledge of the inner workings of the biggest pro wrestling company in the world, a moment that was likely not forgotten in a hurry. What would follow in the months to come was several more huge bookings, firstly against a former WWE tag team, The Highlanders, a match where Shawn tagged with partner Flexx Falcone (Models inc.) at a PWX (Pro Wrestling Xtreme) event held in Ontario. Ballpark Brawl 4 followed and Shawn Spears competed in a match which included several high profile names such as Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, Mastiff & Roderick Strong. The Experience was growing rapidly for Spears. 2005 was a widely successful and busy year for Spears, eventually tasting his first slice of gold when defeating Reggie Marley at PWA Holiday hangover in December to win the PWA Pure Wrestling Association title. Shawn would defend the title successfully against Cody Deaner in January of 2005 but would drop the gold against former champ Reggie Marley on the same night.
In February of 2006, Spears would go on an impressive winning run across the independent scene in Ontario before another opportunity at gold competing against Michael Elgin, Johnny Devine & Shark Boy at a GCW, also in Ontario.
After sending a tape to WWE)officials, Ronnie was called for a try-out in Buffalo, New York, He was signed to a developmental contract by WWE following the tryout, on January 21, 2006. He made a cameo appearance at the Cyber Sunday PPV as an employee called “Stan”, who ate a superkick from Shawn Michaels after Michaels is told that he doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “controversial”. Once signed to the WWE contract, Arneill was signed to Ohio Valley Wrestling, this was WWE’s developmental territory at the time where he would then make his OVW TV debut as “The Canadian Sensation” Shawn Spears. In his debut on May 31st he would defeat Smackdown superstar Simon Dean, a huge kick start for his WWE career.
(Photo courtesy of Reddit)
2006 was filled with back to back OVW TV & House shows & after a run of defeats in both singles and tag team action, Spears would pick up a huge win over a future WWE Grand Slam Champion The Miz plus successful tag team bouts featuring Cody Runnels, yes thats Cody Rhodes, this lead to a huge OVW Southern tag team title opportunity in September 2006 where Spears & Runnels would defeat both Deuce & Domino and the team of Idol Stevens & KC James albeit by DQ. It wasn’t long before Spears & Runnels would finally hold the tag gold in OVW when they finally faced the champions Duece & Domino in Louisville, Kentucky and captured the gold in October of that year. A feud with the former champions would lead to vacated tag titles after a controversial double pin, Deuce & Domino would regain the gold but only to see Spears & Cody capture the titles once again in a street fight to close out the year as OVW Southern tag team champions.
This would not the only gold that Spears would hold In OVW, as he won and therefore simultaneously held both the tag titles and his newly won OVW TV Championship on March 17th 2007 when defeating Boris Alexiev, Spears would later successfully defend against Tommasso (Ciampa) before eventually dropping the tag titles in April 2007 to the team of Charles Evans & Justin LaRoche (OX & Hammer).
Spears & Cody would eventually split after such a widely successful run, entering a star making singles run for both. Cody would defeat Spears in a ‘Golden envelope on a pole’ match , thus kickstarting a summer feud which would go on through the month of June, including title matches won by either count out or DQ, this feud would culminate in a lumberjack match which Cody ultimately won, there was no title at stake here. The feud would pick up again including a strap match at OVW Six Flags Summer Sizzler in which Cody would win. Spears would then eventually drop the TV title to Runnels at another Six Flags Summer Sizzler show in July of 2007. Once again the feud continued through a steel cage match which ended in a no contest, but Spears had once again another crowing moment when he defeated Cody for the TV title on July 13th.
Later that month the current WWE Champion John Cena would sail in to Six Flags Summer Sizzler series and defend the WWE Championship against Shawn Spears, the biggest ‘on paper’ match of Spears career. Cena Was successful here, but the trust shown in the challenger was on show for all.
The month of August brought a new feud and challenger for Shawn’s TV title, this time it was Colt Cabana. This led to several matches between the pair, a feud that would eventually be settled by Spears before then losing the title to Ted McNaler in September.
This month also marked the return to WWE Heat for Spears, who competed in a losing effort to Super Crazy.
Spears would re enter the OVW title picture, thus regaining the gold after gaining revenge over Ted McNaler but then dropping the gold to rival Colt Cabana just 7 days later on OVW Television.
2007 was closing once again at a rapid pace for a busy Spears, who would then become a double champion again, capturing the OVW Southern tag titles, this time in reverse order as he teamed with former enemy Colt Cabana to win the vacant gold in a tournament. The year ended when the tag team champions faced each other in a heated rivalry this time for the right to become tag team champion, the winner taking both titles home in a ladder match. Colt Cabana stood tall becoming the tag team champion (Oh this is why I love pro wrestling). In February 2008 Shawn Spears would pick up his final OVW win over Drew McIntyre before losing a career ending match against Colt Cabana. Once OVW split from WWE, Spears debuted in WWE’s new developmental territory, FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) under the new name, Gavin Spears. During his time in FCW Spears would challenge Jake Hager for the Heavyweight title in a losing effort before capturing more tag gold, this time whilst teaming with Nic Nemeth. Spears would also debut for ECW which was reset by WWE, facing Ricky Ortiz & Super Crazy and losing the respective singles bouts. Spears & Nemeth would successfully defend the FCW tag titles on multiple occasions before eventually losing to the team of Heath Miller & Joe Henning in September 2008.
October & December brought further opportunities for Gavin, firstly facing Tommy Dreamer in a dark match on Friday Smackdown, before facing Finlay on an episode of ECW on Sci-fi.
In February of 2009, Gavin would take multiple bookings for GCW back in Ontario before heading to ACW (American Combat Wrestling) in April & May under the ring name of Shawn Spears, he would make it to the King of Florida final, eventually losing to Nooie Lee. Shawn Spears would debut for TNA WRESTLING in May featuring in a losing effort to the Elijah Burke who would later be known as The Pope D’Angelo Dinero in the same promotion. Throughout 2009, Spears would work almost on a weekly basis from August – November for WWC (World Wrestling Council) teaming with idol Stevens (Aron Rex) aka The American Family, they would capture the tag titles in WWC before losing on his final appearance in a two out of three falls match against the team of Thunder & Lightning.
It was a return to many independent companies in 2010 for Spears, notably to ACW where he would finally win the King of Florida tournament, beating Kennedy Kendrick in the final.
The beginning of 2011 saw Spears represent AJPW (All Japan Pro Wrestling) where he kicked off his time facing trainer Eric Young in a match which ended in a no contest. Spears would go on to team successfully with Sanada and later defeat Jake O’Reilly in Chosi. Spears would notably wrestle at both Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium & Korakuen during his 1 month stay in Japan. This was another stacked year for Shawn as he represented NSPW, CCW & PWA, notably challenging Reggie Marley for the PWA Pure Wrestling title. 2012 was much of the same, gaining valuable experience on the circuit before we fast forward to NXT and the birth of a Perfect 10.
On September 15th 2013, it was reported that Spears had resigned with WWE and thus assigned to NXT under a new name, Tye Dillinger. His off screen debut was in a losing effort to Alexander Rusev which was the first of many house shows for the black & gold brand, however, it wasn’t long until Dillinger got to show the world what he was capable of, as NXT streamed live from Full Sail University in Florida, his TV debut came in a match against Mojo Rawley on the 10th of the 10th 2013 (Like what I did there….)
Dillinger would form a team team with Jason Jordan for a short while, before the two split after an unsuccessful NXT tag title match against the champions, the Ascension, most of which was unseen to the public eye due to live house shows. Tye would team with Baron Corbin on multiple occasions before re-teaming with Jordan before facing The New Age Outlaws in a dark match at NXT Vengeance 2014. The pairing would continue to feature heavily on House shows over the coming months. A notable opportunity would arise when, JJ & Dillinger would enter a number one contenders tournament for the tag gold, unfortunately falling at the first hurdle again Colin Cassidy & Enzo Amore. Tye would feature again on the live stream from Florida, this time facing close friend (and Flatbacks training school partner) Tyler Breeze. 2014 would close out with a host of live show appearances, but it was not until 2015 that the 10 chants started to build momentum……
2015 was much of the same for Dillinger, facing an array of talent and future world champions in WWE but on August 22nd, Tye made hist first NXT Takeover appearance, facing debutant Apollo Crews at the Barclays Centre in New York, I can still hear and see the 10 chants when I close my eyes…. A star making moment in NXT was born.
Fast forward to 2016 and the singles push was very real, Dillinger was picking up single win after single win but was ultimately never in sight of that crowning moment. Tye was featured again on Takeover, this time losing once again to Andrade Almas (a match that I was lucky to witness myself in a live show here in the UK). Dillinger’s biggest feuds in NXT both culminated at Takeover shows, firstly feuding with fellow Canadian Bobby Roode and then falling to the team of Sanity at Takeover Orlando. The would end his NXT days by closing out a taping on April 5th 2017 beating Eric Young in a steel cage match.
Dillinger made his main roster debut by appearing in the number 10 slot at the 2017 Royal Rumble, a huge pop greeted him and even I shed tears of joy that night, but on the April 11th Superstar shake up episode of Smackdown, The Perfect 10 would debut in winning form by defeating Aidan English, before not being seen again until early May, in that time leading up to a second appearance on Smackdown, Dillinger would return to NXT house shows, working the NXT champion Bobby Roode.
It was not until July 2017 that Dillinger would appear again on live WWE TV, losing to Jinder Mahal, although he was heavily featured on house shows, it was unfortunately clear that WWE did not have immediate plans for the talented and super over worker.
The highest profile match in Dillingers Smackdown stint was when he challenged AJ Styles for the US Title in September of that year, in a highly competitive and widely regarded match, Styles retained and Dillinger returned to House shows.
A further opportunity for the US title came live on PPV at Hell in a Cell when Corbin defeated Styles & Dillinger in a triple threat match to win the gold, this was Tye’s last televised match until December 26th when Jinder Mahal beat Dillinger in the first round of the US title tournament. It was once again a return to house shows for him.
2018 was very much the same, House shows and sporadic appearances including notable inclusion in the Andre the Giant Memorial battle royal on the Wresltlemania 34 Kick off show and being a participant in the lesser spoken about greatest royal rumble match in Saudi Arabia, Dillingers last TV spot for WWE would come in a losing match against Shinsuke Nakamura in September 2018 before leabeign the company in February 2019.
The Chairman cometh…….
On May 25th 2019 Shawn Spears would debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at their inaugural PPV, Double or Nothing, competing in the ‘Buy in’ show Casino battle royal that was won by Adam Page, however, it was not until June 12th of 2019 that AEW announced the signing of Spears, later that month the Chairman of AEW was born with a Chair Shot heard around the world when Spears infamously busted open The American Nightmare at Fyter Fest. Spears would face his historic rival at the All Out PPV on August 31st, but would fall short. The promos leading up to this match where fantastic and likely some of Spears best televised work along with the alignment of Tully Blanchard, the signs all point that the ball was dropped by previous companies with such a talented and genuine worker.
Shortly after failing to beat Cody, Spears was beaten by Jon Moxley on the second episode of AEW Dynamite held in Boston, shortly after this defeat, Spears brushed himself off and entered a feud with Joey Janela. Leading up to the match at Full Gear 2019, Spears had picked up wins across Dynamite and AEW Dark (a showed streamed on Youtube).
In April of 2020, Spears met with his fierce rival Cody once again, in the AEW TNT title tournament, a tournament set to crown the inaugural TNT champion. Cody Ultimately advanced.
Throughout they year of 2020 Spears went on an unprecedented winning run across Dark, Dynamite & Elevation, between this run he was a member of The Pinnacle where a memorable AEW feud had spread between said group and The Inner Circle which culminated in Blood & Guts and finally at AEW Double or Nothing where Stadium Stampede was the memorable setting. Spears would continue to represent The Pinnacle teaming successfully with Wardlow on several occasions throughout the remainder of 2021. Spears would eventually split from the group as it dissolved, staying aligned to MJF during the latter feud with the breakout star, Wardlow. Spears would represent MJF in a steel cage match on May 25th, this would be the last time that spears would feature in AEW for 5 months.
Spears returned to AEW on October 13th 2022 episode of Rampage when he suprisngly teamed with FTR to beat The Embassy. This show emanated from Toronto, Canada where Spears cut a heartfelt promo to his home crowd, acknowledging his time away and explains his absence due to the sad loss of his Mother, Spears acknowledged the fact that Tony Khan gave him all the time that he required to deal with this heartbreak.
In January 2023, Spears (Ronnie Arneill and his wife Cassie lee) welcomed to the world, their first son.
Spears featured sporadically on AEW TV in 2023, featuring only once during the Zero Hour pre-show over the budget battle royal, he was eliminated by Aussie Open. He would also challenge Luchasaurus for the TNT title at AEW Battle of the Belts but fell short.
The remainder of 2023 saw a return to the independent scene and several championship wins in promotions such as NEO and WSW – where he would defeat Matt Cardona in Melbourne Australia on October 6th, a match that can be found for free via YouTube. Spears can be seenncelebrating that win with his wife Cassie Lee below. Spears would defend the title successfully 3 times over 7 days before losing the title back to Matt Cardona.
Cassie & Ronnie announced that they are once again set to be parents for a second time.
On February 27th 2024, Shawn Spears shocked the world and returned to NXT, a return that was kept so beautifully secret, teasing that the Chairman persona can carry over and notably holding the name, Shawn Spears.
In a previous Podcast, Shawn Spears stated that winning the intercontinental title is a life long goal and sharing that moment with a son or daughter inside the ring much like the late Brodie Lee did with his son. Now that he is back with WWE could this life long goal become a reality?! Here is hoping and yes im not being biased but as I stated at the top of this article, this man saved my life and now I am here for this next chapter and the best run of his illustrious career.