AEW's Shawn Spears Hints at Wrestling Retirement Plans (Exclusive)

Shawn Spears is nearing the end of his in-ring career. The Perfect 10 has been in the wrestling business for over two decades now, wrestling a relentless full-time schedule for both WWE and AEW. While in Vince McMahon's sports-entertainment empire, Spears competed as Tye Dillinger for five years in NXT where he totaled nearly 400 matches during that span. Now being 42 years old, Spears has started to conceptualize how he anticipates his wrestling days finishing up.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Spears noted that he's thought about his last match "a little bit" but is expecting his actual retirement bout to be somewhat of a secret.

"I don't think it'll be announced as a last match. I won't announce it as a last match. I'll just have the match. I'll know when I'm done, and then I will just be away, and that'll be it," Spears said. "I'll just ride into the sunset on my own. That would kind of be a perfect full circle moment, because in this industry, you're on your own a lot. It'll mean the world to me, but people won't know that it'll be the last match."

Outside of the ring, Spears is now a father. He and wife Cassie Lee (formerly known as Peyton Royce in WWE) welcomed their first child earlier this year.

"It is changed my perspective on life in general and professional wrestling life. I'm more about now setting a good example," Spears said of becoming a dad. "I've been very driven, gung ho, tunnel vision [in wrestling]. Nothing else around me really mattered. When he came along, he's the path. He's the tunnel. Wrestling, I love it, and it is a wonderful part of my life, but that's it. It's just a part of my life. He is going to be with me much longer than wrestling will be.

"As long as my wife and son are happy and healthy, my job as a man and as a person who's employed is done. That's it. That's all I can control. It has made me happier. It has made me see things a little more clearer. When you hold your own, it just, it just switches everything."

AEW returns to television this Wednesday for AEW Dynamite at 8 PM ET on TBS.