Shawn Spears recently appeared as a guest on a special live edition of “The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana” at STARRCAST VI.
During the discussion, the AEW performer spoke about his WWE developmental run in the early 2000s and how in 2007, he wrestled John Cena for the WWE Championship at the OVW: Six Flags Summer Sizzler Series.
“That day, we had an eight match card (for OVW’s Six Flags show). But because there was severe, severe rainstorms and I think Jerry Lawler was on this show, somebody else might have been on the show too and then me and John (Cena) would go last, while there was a downpour. Crazy downpour so the matches went from eight to three and John wasn’t there yet,” Spears said. “The good saving grace is-is that Cody (Rhodes) had talked to John beforehand because I think John had asked him, ‘Who is this guy? What’s he all about?’ And Cody kind of said some good things. So, when I ran into John, he’s like, ‘Yep. Cody said some good things about you. We’ll be good. We’ll do this, this and this’ and then he kind of walked off and I went, ‘… Sh*t. Okay.’ So we went out there, it was pouring rain. I was out first, he comes out on a Hummer, with soldiers walking beside him and the place just — deafening. Crazy. But, if you’ve ever been in a wrestling ring when it’s been wet, I’m assuming most of you haven’t been, it’s like ice and so when people sweat, it’s like ice. You can slip and someone can get really hurt so the fear was that if this guy went down, it’s on my watch, they’re gonna look at me. So, but to his credit, he is probably one of the absolute professional athletes on this planet.”
Spears continued, “A lot of people will give John slack about his wrestling ability. Say whatever you want about his wrestling ability. He is one of the greatest workers and there is a difference between working and wrestling. He is one of the greatest workers of all-time. So, he taught me a lot in that match… I got through, he got through it and I went, yay and then I got fired like a year-and-a-half later (laughed). I’ll get fired in a year (from AEW), year-and-a-half, something like that. We’ll figure it out. Just waiting for an outdoor show and then Kenny (Omega) or somebody and yeah, a year later, I’m not on the calendar (he laughed).”
Check out the complete interview at Apple.com. H/T to POSTWrestling.com for transcribing the above quotes.
