Shawn Spears Says He Asked About Appearing In The 2024 Royal Rumble, ‘I Think I Was Too Late’

Shawn Spears says he attempted to return to WWE at the Royal Rumble event.

Spears made his shocking return to the company on the February 28 episode of NXT, just weeks after announcing his departure from AEW. Spears has already started to build some momentum in the company, as he has picked up wins over the likes of Ridge Holland and Uriah Connors.

While speaking to Fightful for a new interview, Spears said that he “shot his shot” about a possible appearance in the Men’s Royal Rumble match in January.

“I love me some Carlito, too. All I will say is that I shot my shot. I just don’t think I got it in early enough. I think I was too late. But I did shoot my shot. I tried. All I can do is, ‘Hey, how about this?’ and then I let it go. I let the rest play out as it can. I think I was a little late to the party. So you never know. That’s what they tell you, right? You never know.”

Spears then went on to note that he preferred to use the ‘Shawn Spears’ name when returning to WWE, which was an idea that Shawn Michaels was a fan of.

“It was discussed. Preference wise, I was asked, ‘Hey, what would you prefer?’ I immediately felt that Shawn Spears was the best way to go. Then speaking with Shawn Michaels, he enjoyed the presentation of Shawn Spears. He enjoyed what I brought to the table in that aspect. He said, ‘How can we make this work?’ We were able to filter it up the ladder a little bit and we were able to make it all work. The good news is I have the rights to majority that I present. Whether that be name, music, logos. I have the rights to all of that. So I presented it as all possibilities and luckily enough, and thankfully enough, we were able to keep the same concept of what I was working with. Now it was just about adding in a few more elements and trying to compound the character that I’ve already been trying to filter out. I am a big character guy. I love characters. I grew up on the Rick Martels and the Rick Rudes and the Mr. Perfects. I love that stuff. So I will always be a character based driven professional wrestler. I love the entrances. That’s something I stole from Triple H. Go back and watch all his entrances from WrestleManias. They’re all awesome. They’re all little movies. I tell a lot of talent, ‘It’s the only time that everybody’s looking at you. So why not put all the effort you can into that entrance?’ So I’m always going to look for that entertainment aspect and all of that. So, yeah, I get long winded and I get excited when we start talking, but hopefully that kind of answers your question a little bit.”

Spears then went on to talk about his theme song in AEW, which was made by popular content creator Josiah Williams.

“Banger, right? Yeah, man. A very creative guy. That was what I was about to say, more importantly the guy’s a sweetheart. A sweetheart of a man. Incredibly, terribly gifted to the point where he’s able to knock those out. Not just for me, but for various people. So shout out to my man Josiah. I tried, but there are certain things where they have to change something up. They gotta switch something up. I do. It still plays in my playlist. I got that rocking every now and then, and I’m probably not going to let it go any time soon.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Spears went in depth about his departure from AEW and his return to WWE. Fans can learn more here.

Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Shawn Spears in the video linked at the top of this article.