Shawn Spears made his return to AEW on October 12th, 2022, during Dynamite. Spears teamed with FTR on the October 14th episode of Rampage. Spears spoke with fans after the match about his leave of absence.
“I’ve been gone from a long time and there’s been some speculation as to why. Injuries, different plans, none of that is true. I don’t if that’s because I’m in Toronto. I don’t know if its because I’m home. I’m a pretty private person but I feel like I owe all of you an explanation. Two months ago, I lost my mom, and she would’ve been front-center like she’s been at every other show if she was here tonight. But that woman is a perfect ten in every way shape and form. Two blessings came out of that. Number one, we had time to say everything we ever wanted to say to make her feel loved as we possibly could. Most people don’t have that luxury. The second blessing was that on this Mother’s Day she was the very first person to know that I was gonna be a father. So the way I see it, there’s a guardian angel looking over my soon-to-be beautiful baby boy.”
“So, I’ve been pulled in a lot of different directions, mentally and emotionally but I knew coming home each and everyone one of you would show up and god damn did you ever. From the bottom of my heart, I would never ever forget this day and I want to thank you all for that.”
(h/t to Colin Tessier for transcription)
