Shawn Spears

Real name: Ronnie Arneill
Height: 6’3
Weight: 235 lbs.
Date of birth: February 19, 1981
Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Pro debut: 2001
Trained by: Eric Young, Derek Wylde & Cody Deaner
Finishing move: C4

Biography

– Arniel began his career under the ringname Shawn Spears
– On February 21, 2005, Spears appeared on WWE Heat, teaming with Mikael Yamaha in a loss to The Hurricane & Rosey
– On New Years Day 2006, Spears defeated Reggie Marley to win the PWA Pure Wrestling Title
– On January 21, 2006, Arniel signed a WWE development deal and was assigned to OVW
– On May 31, 2006, Arniel (still wrestling as Shawn Spears) made his OVW debut, defeating Simon Dean
– On September 6, 2006, Spears & Cody Runnels defeated OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Deuce & Domino by DQ
– On October 18, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated Gothic Mayhem (Johnny Punch & Pat Buck) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On November 2, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Bad Company (Mike Kruel & Shawn Osbourne) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles and win the services of Cherry as their manager
– On November 22, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated La Resistance (Robert Conway & Sylvain Grenier) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On December 15, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino in a Street Fight to regain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles, just 9 days after losing them
– On January 3, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated Charles Evans & Justin LaRoche to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated High Dosage (Jon Bolen & Ryan Reeves) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On February 28, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated The Frat Pack (Mike Mondo & Nick Nemeth) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On March 14, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated Charles Evans & Justin LaRoche to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– 3 days later, Spears defeated Boris Alexiev to win the OVW Television Title
– On March 28, 2007, Spears defeated Tommaso to retain the OVW Television Title
– On May 16, 2007, Spears defeated Steve Lewington to retain the OVW Television Title
– On June 15, 2007, Spears defeated Mike Mondo to retain the OVW Television Title
– On July 13, 2007, Spears defeated Cody Runnels to regain the OVW Television Title, just a week after losing it in a Cage Match
– At the OVW Six Flags Summer Sizzler, Spears unsuccessfully challenged John Cena for the WWE Title
– On August 3, 2007, Spears defeated Steve Lewington to retain the OVW Television Title
– Over the next month, Spears would retain the title against Colt Cabana, Seth Skyfire and Steve Lewington
– On September 2, 2007, Spears made another appearance on Heat, losing to Super Crazy
– On September 12, 2007, Spears defeated Colt Cabana in a No-DQ Match to retain the OVW Television Title
– On October 24, 2007, Spears defeated Ted McNaler to regain the OVW Television Title, but lost it a week later to Colt Cabana
– On November 7, 2007, Spears & Cabana won the OVW Tag Team Title Tournament, defeating Paul Burchill & Stu Sanders in the final
– One week later, Spears & Cabana defeated Pat Buck & Ryan Reeves to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On February 27, 2008, Cabana defeated Spears in a Career vs Career Match. This result served as a kayfabe way to relocate Spears to WWE’s new developmental territory, FCW
– On August 17, 2008, Spears & Nic Nemeth defeated Eddie Colon & Eric Perez to win the FCW Tag Team Titles
-Two days later, Arniel (as Gavin Spears) made his first of what would become semi-regular appearances on ECW programming
– On August 28, 2008, Spears & Nemeth defeated Eric Perez & Primo Colon to retain the FCW Tag Team Titles
– On September 2, 2008, Spears & Nemeth defeated Heath Miller & Joe Hennig to retain the FCW Tag Team Titles
– On January 19, 2009, Arniel was released from his WWE contract and he returned to the indies as Shawn Spears
– On May 12, 2009, Spears entered the ACW King of Florida Tournament, losing to Nooie Lee in the final
– On June 12, 2009, Spears made his ROH debut, defeating Alex Payne
– On August 4, 2009, Spears defeated Nooie Lee to win the ACW Heavyweight Title
– On August 15, 2009, Spears & Idol Stevens defeated Thunder & Lightning to win the WWC Tag Team Titles
– On March 9, 2010, Spears defeated Alex Decay & Titan in a 3-Way Match to win the ACW Combat Title
– One week later, Spears defeated Alex Decay & Titan in separate singles matches to retain the ACW Combat Title
– On June 3, 2010, Spears entered and won the ACW King of Florida Tournament, defeating Kennedy Kendrick in the final
– On August 4, 2010, Spears defeated Nooie Lee to win the ACW Heavyweight Title
– In February 2011, Spears embarked on a short tour of Japan with AJPW
– On June 28, 2011, NVUS (Spears & Kennedy Kendrick) defeated 1st Degree (D’Lo Jordan & GI Jamm) to win the FUW Tag Team Titles
– On July 30, 2011, NVUS defeated The James Boys (Luke & Rich) to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– The next day, NVUS defeated The James Boys (Luke & Rich) and The Worlds Largest All Knighters (Joey Knight & Shooter Storm) in a Triple Threat Match to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– One week later, NVUS defeated The Nuyoricanz (Carlos Rivera & D. Ramos) to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– On September 8, 2011, Spears fought PWA Pure Wrestling Champion Reggie Marley to a draw
– On February 19, 2012, Spears defeated Anthony Darko to win the TCW Heavyweight Title
– On March 25, 2012, Spears defeated Anthony Darko in a rematch to retain the TCW Heavyweight Title
– On December 8, 2012, Spears (subbing for Tony Carbonie) & Primo Scordino defeated The Piss Beaters (Anthony Darko & Jake O’Reilly) to retain the NWF Tag Team Titles
– On September 15, 2013, Arniel re-signed with WWE and was given the ring name Tye Dillinger
– On October 3, 2013, Dillinger made his NXT debut, losing to Leo Kruger
– In November 2013, Dillinger formed a tag team with Jason Jordan
– In late 2014, Jordan & Dillinger became part of the new Shoot Nation stable
– In February 2015, Jordan turned on Dillinger, splitting the team
– In mid-2015, Dillinger debuted a new gimmick, ‘The Perfect 10’
– In a dark match prior to NXT Takeover Brooklyn II, Dillinger defeated Wesley Blake
– After Wrestlemania 33, Dillinger was moved to the Smackdown roster
– On the Backlash ’17 pre-show, Dillinger defeated Aiden English
– On the Fastlane ’18 pre-show, Dillinger & Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) defeated Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
– In February 2019, Dillinger was granted his WWE release having not appeared on television since the previous September
– In May 2019, it was announced that Arniell (wrestling as ‘Shawn Spears’ again) would be making his first independent appearance at the upcoming AEW Double or Nothing event
– In June 2019, Spears confirmed that he had signed a full-time deal with AEW
– On June 22, 2019, Spears defeated Shaun Moore to win the PWA Commonwealth Title
– At Fight For The Fallen, Spears, MJF & Sammy Guevara defeated Jimmy Havoc, Joey Janela & Darby Allin
– On September 28, Spears defeated Shaun Moore to retain the PWA Commonwealth Title
– At Full Gear 2019, Spears defeated Joey Janela
– In early 2021, Spears joined MJF’s ‘The Pinnacle’ stable
– At Blood & Guts 2021, The Pinnacle (Spears, MJF, Wardlow, Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) defeated The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana & Ortiz) in the titular match
– Spears was absent for much of the latter half of 2022 in order to support his pregnant wife
– On May 20, 2023, Spears defeated Tyler Tirva to win the vacant NEO Grand Independent Title
– On October 6, Spears defeated Matt Cardona to win the WSW World Title, retained it against Frankie Kazarian, Eric Young and Robbie Eagles over the next few days, before losing it back to Cardona on October 13
– On December 2, Spears defeated Backwoods Brown to win the GLCW Heavyweight Title
– Spears announced his departure from AEW on December 23, 2023 and officially became a free agent on New Year’s Day
– Spears returned to NXT on February 27, 2024, attacking Ridge Holland. Unusually, he would retain his name and gimmick upon his return to WWE
– At Roadblock 2024, Spears defeated Uriah Connors