Cody on Shawn Spears: “When that guy moves, there’s magic”
Speaking with Busted Open Radio, Cody discussed how important AEW’s ‘Road To’ videos have been in helping get talent like Shawn Spears over. Spears has been a regular part of the Road To videos, particularly in his feud with Cody and his attack on the EVP at Fight For the Fallen. The first Road to All Out episode also included Tully Blanchard being revealed as Spears’ new manager, and Cody cited the legend as an influence to.
Highlights of Cody’s comments are below:
On using the Road To series to get Spears over: “I think the answer with how somebody like Shawn Spears goes from kind of toiling in obscurity or like you said, lower to the middle card, I should know that answer better than anybody because I was toiling in the middle card. It’s one thing they have done really well, they have moved the ‘The Road To’ series that is produced in Atlanta. They’ve moved it to the All Elite Wrestling channel now. It’s, you know, it’s a full All Elite Wrestling show. And I’ve I have let it go there, and absolutely love it. They’ve been able to tell people’s real stories.”
On the videos showing audiences a new side to talent: “Wrestlers are an interesting lot. And people love the reality of our industry. That’s one thing that we keep saying in AEW, a term. We keep saying, ‘sports-centric.’ And sports-centric means a lot of things but one thing that it means is covering the day-to-day lives of who these people really are, and what they are. It may not be the traditional means that can get a character connected to the audience.”
On Tully Blanchard helping to get Spears over: “I don’t know, it may be the magic of somebody like Tully Blanchard. Because love him or hate him, I don’t know how I particularly feel about him, when that guy talks there’s magic. When that guy moves, there’s magic. It’s really special for a younger wrestler to even be able to see Tully … That could have been the one thing that Shawn Spears needed all along. A true, genuine adviser and manager, and he got somebody very unexpected. Tully’s something.”
