Shawn Spears Explains How His Partnership With Tully Blanchard in AEW Began

Shawn Spears will make his first appearance on AEW Dynamite this week when All Elite Wrestling’s new show arrives in Boston. “The Chairman” is set to face another WWE alum in Jon Moxley during the show, and he’ll once again have wrestling legend Tully Blanchard in his corner. Blanchard’s arrival in AEW came as a shock to old-school fans, given that he’d been out of the wrestling game for a while to focus on his career as a prison minister. But in a new interview with ComicBook.com, Spears explained how the partnership came about.

“The concept presented itself, and then through mutual friends, I ended up having the ability to get in contact with him,” Spears said. “I just laid out a concept. Given his history with the Rhodes family, it just seemed like the natural fit. He’s obviously, got firsthand knowledge, and it was something that he was interested in doing. So, it was a perfect time, if any, for it to come together storyline-wise. I went to San Antonio to do an independent show, and he decided to do that with me. So, we’ve spent time together at the gym, and things of that nature.

“The guy is just a wealth of knowledge,” he continued. “There’s no question about that whatsoever. His in-depth perspective and the way he views the business now; as opposed to how it was back then, he’s not partial to one or the other. He’s just partial to the core foundations of the industry. Those [insights] are refreshing and those are always a gift to hear and to have in your back pocket when you’re alongside that guy. It’s been incredible so far.”

Blanchard first arrived weeks after Spears had turned heel and bashed Cody Rhodes’ head in with a steel chair at the Fyter Fest event. Spears went into detail about the advice Blanchard has passed onto him so far, which included watching the famous ‘I Quit’ match between he and Magnum T.A. from Starrcade 1985.

“So, I recently went back and did that. We exchanged some text messages and phone calls just to talk about different ways of portions of the match, selling, psychology, building to a very hot angle, and blowing it off properly,” Spears said. “I think the next time we’re together, we’re going to be able to watch that as well. That’s the beautiful thing about social media and YouTube, we have that right in our pocket.”

The first match under the new partnership didn’t go as either man had hoped, as Rhodes beat Spears at All Out thanks to an assist from Blanchard’s former tag partner Arn Anderson. Yet despite the loss Spears said the alliance won’t end anytime soon.

“If I’m on television you better believe that Tully’s going to be right alongside me,” he said.