Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Shawn Spears on the chairshot to Cody, signing with AEW, his wife Peyton Royce, Tully Blanchard

Episode Date: February 20, 2020

Shawn Spears sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Flatbacks, the wrestling school he owns with Tyler Breeze in Apopka, FL. Spears talks about the unprotected chairshot to Cody Rhodes at Fyter Fest, the creation of The Chairman character, marrying Peyton Royce, starting Flackbacks Wrestling School with Tyler Breeze, teaming up with Tully Blanchard, how much longer he wants to wrestle and much more! This is our second interview, the first one took place in June, 2019:   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's Crystal Mania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. What's a powerful question. Woo! This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleach Show. Ladies and gentlemen.

Here we go again for another episode of the CVV show. Thank you for coming back each and every week and for each and every episode. This episode is brought to you by BetOnline, and Sean Spears is no stranger to the show. We had him as a guest last June right before he signed with AEW. It was actually three days before he officially signed with AEW that we did the interview. the day that we released to the interview was coincidentally the day that he signed with AEW.

I had no idea. In fact, I posted the interview and then like an hour or two later, I'm like, oh, look at that. Sean Spears is with Ollie Wrestling now. If you haven't heard that conversation, it is such a good one. It was actually the first interview that he did

after leaving WWE, and he talked about why he wasn't happy there, what made him ask for his release, even though his wife or fiancé at the time was working there, why he thinks they granted him his release and so much more. This interview picks up pretty much right after that one left off because so much has happened since then. With that said, take a screenshot right now.

Tag both me and Sean Spears. Let us know that you are on this audio adventure along with us. And thank you so much for the reviews you've been leaving on Apple Podcasts. And to answer the tweets you've been sending? Yes. Yes, I will keep reading one on every single episode until we get to a thousand reviews in 2020. And the reviews can be as long or as short as you want, like this one. This one's from Carr, C-A-R-R-80.

And the title of this is just three of the okay emojis. You know the okay. So three of those in a row, the review itself is just three thumbs-up emojis. Just bur-p-p-p-thumbs-up. That's it. And you know what? Honestly, that's all we need. It doesn't need to be some long review, although if you'd like to do that, that's super cool.

I read them all. Even the bad ones from like MJF fans. I read all the reviews and just little ones and long ones go a long way to help the show. Hell, you know, Sean Spears even left a review on the show. Yeah, if you go back far enough, you can read the review from Sean Spears. So if Sean Spears can find the time to leave a review, you know what? So can you. Okay.

Either way, though, I still love you. I love you if you're listening on Stitcher or Spotify or Google Play or wherever you're listening. I could name them all, but we're on like 150 platforms. But yes, I love you all. And all of this leads to this chat now with Sean Spears. Our viewer of the Chris Van Vlead Show. So much has happened since that last interview we did. That was just eight months ago.

Eight months, I guess, can seem like. a long time or a short time, I guess, depending on what's going on in your life. But since then, he now has a new job. He works with AEW. He got married to Peyton Royce. He has a new house, a new dog, and a new wrestling school called Flatback's Wrestling School in Central Florida, just outside of Orlando. And since that time of our last interview, he also gave the chair shot heard around

the world to Cody. And we talk about exactly what happened with that chair shot. and how it was actually supposed to go. So here you go, my friend. It's the chairman of AEW. Sean Spears. We can start with the thumbs up. Right?

Yeah. I don't really do this. Are we doing like orange cashdie style? Oh. Orange cashies. Yeah. For everyone listening, they're like, what's going on here right now? I love that guy.

Isn't he great? He's great. Yeah. Super over. It's definitely great. You're great. No, I'm old. But it's good to see you again, man.

You said that in another interview. I'm old. I've been saying it for years. You're not old. I feel young, so that's okay. You look great. Just for men is a hell of a product, isn't it? Right, guys?

They should, I should be a paid, you know. Just the hair or the beard, too. I don't have much of the hair left, buddy. What are you talking about? That's the secret on this. But I might have to touch up the beard every now and then. Sure, why not? Why not for that high-deaf television?

You know what I mean? Well, people haven't, I haven't sat next to you for an interview since before you were unsigned. You were still a free agent. So that was the beginning of June that we did that interview. Yeah. And like I posted the interview on a Tuesday and you got hired that day. Yes, the same day. I remember you asking me very vividly, hey, are you under contract?

No, I'm not. And that was God's honest truth. But then a few days later, sure enough, what are the odds? Yeah, well, congratulations. Thank you very much. So much has changed. I mean, that was only seven months ago. And so much has changed for you.

It seems like it's been longer, right? We met it. I was at a hotel in Disney World. Yeah, that's right. I was interviewing the stars of Toy Story 3, which is awesome. Or 4, sorry. And I'm like, well, I'm in town. You live close-ish.

You're like, I'm opening up this wrestling school. I'm like, perfect. This is going to be great. Let's do it. We finally work things out logistically. And here you are at Flatbacks School of Wrestling. Yeah. And I'm congratulations on this.

Thank you. There's so many things to congratulate you on. In the last seven months, you now have a new employer, a new house, a new dog. a wife. Yeah. And now you have a business owner. Yeah. Yeah.

Now that you put it that way. Yeah. You're very good at making things very, like making people realize how good things really are. So thank you for that. Yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for it. Yeah. Well, congratulations on everything. Thanks, man.

You too. Oh, well, thank you. The podcast is flying. Well, you know, because of guests like you. I'm glad you went that way. I'm glad you went that way. The YouTube would think was huge, still is huge. Yep.

I'm not going into podcast and the people you've, I've watched who you've been, you've gone from, from Jay Lowe to the Rock to, yeah. Yeah. I don't, this is not just going to be a whole session of me putting him over, him, putting me over. We could. We could do that. Someone's got to do it for me. So thank you.

But nonetheless, no, you're, you know, you're welcome in these doors and any doors that I happen to own anytime. Well, thank you. I saw you at an AEW show in October. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, it was the last time I saw you there. Yeah, that was the last time I saw you. That was the last show that I was part of.

And it was like, it's just cool to like be in this environment with you, especially after we had like a very long talk about how you were in such a good place after leaving a not great situation that you were in with your previous contract. Yeah, it's just, I guess it was almost like a just a fresh. It was a chance to start over, chance to start fresh, get out of the mental rut that I was in at the time and just with the support that I had from my wife and a few close. friends, the co-owner of this school, Breezy. It was just time to kind of take a step back, okay, pick a path and go. Yeah. So I was really excited to do that. And you've gone.

It's been good. Yeah. It's been good. It started off really well, and now it's gotten bigger and we're renewed for another four years and run a major. I got totally blanchered with me now. Like, you know, it's just, it's wild. You got a new nickname?

Yeah, I got a million nicknames. I got a million that I'm playing around with. But that's the thing is like, you know, I'm not on TV every week. I'm not an AED Dark every week. And when I'm not, I'm at my school or I'm with my pups or I'm with my streaming or I have the opportunity to dip my fingers into all this other stuff because I have the time. And then when I get to go to television or AEDAW Dark, I get to wrestle. Yeah. And I get to wrestle guys that I love to wrestle.

I get to wrestle the way I want to. And it's just fun. Well, you were wrestling like five minutes ago. So why you have knee pads. Yeah, yeah. If you haven't noticed, I was just teaching the kids belly to backs today. Oh, better than me. I remember those days vividly.

How many weeks into class are we right now? We're going into the third week. And they're already learning belly to backs. They'll be doing matches by the beginning of week five. Wow. So that's how it's kind of structured. We took a big page out of land. Storm's book in terms of training format and things like that.

That's where Tyler Breeze Matt came from. So my wife trained there as well. So I believe in his methods of training and he's a top-notch trainer, top-notch man. So yeah, we feel that we can get people ready to have your basic, you know, five, six, seven-minute match. By about week five? Which is amazing because the traditional drop-in style of school, they say, oh, you know, maybe nine to 12 months. And you'll be trained up. Because you're going, what, two or three days a week or something like that?

This is intensive. This is like going to college. We're Monday, Tuesday. The only reason we don't go Wednesdays is because I have TV, recess TV and NXT. And then we're Thursday and Friday. So if we're not on the road or we're not wrestling, we're here. And yeah, and that's the other thing is we're not a drop in school. So we cap our student limit at 10.

And once it's full, it's full. We've had people saying, hey, can I come in and try this? And we're like, we're sorry, we're in the middle of a training course. Yeah. So their time is very valuable. Our time is very valuable. And we want to spend as much time as possible teaching what people are paying to be taught. And it's 10 students with two guys who are currently doing it.

The iconics are here tonight. Yeah. I hear you know one of them really well. Right. Yeah, I heard of her. Heard of her. She's kind of cute. But the fact that you have these connections in the business,

As people that are working on TV every single week, this is probably one of the best places in the country to get trained. That's a big selling point for us, that you have a guy that's currently in WW. A guy that wasn't WWE, but is currently in AEW. The other thing is that we're very hands-on. Like you saw, like, right now, Breeze is in there now, suplexing. Yeah, yeah. So that's the way that was caught. I literally had to pull you away from the training.

Right. So, you know, Breeze was taught hands-on by Lance Storm. I was taught hands-on by Eric Young. and we believe that that's second to non-training. So we don't just say, hey, come on in and let's see what you can do and go in there and bark orders. We don't do that here. We very hands-on.

It keeps me sharp, keeps him sharp, and it gives our students the best possible opportunity to learn quicker. But, yeah, so far, it's only six, seven months old, and it's been great. That's amazing. So we enjoy it. We've always loved being in a position, at least when I was in NXT, too, I was always put in a position to help younger talent. I really enjoyed that, but I'm not done with the aspect of what I want to do yet in the ring.

So this is a fantastic substitute for that. Do you have an idea in mind of how much more you want to be in the ring? I always told myself if I can make it to 20 years. I just hit 18. So if I can make it to 20 years in ring at a top level, I can live with that. That would be pretty good. Especially the fact that you're not, like you said, you're not working as much as you might have been a year ago. So it's much easier on my body.

It's less taxing. It's less travel. But the opportunity now to last that extra two years, probably realistically, has tacked on another two or three possibly if I choose that. But right now, things are very good. I'm in a very good position. I'm in a very stable position personally, financially.

If I can make a 20-year in-ring career, I think that would be pretty cool to tell my kids later on. Not that many people that can say that. at a high level it's been it's been pretty cool yeah was the idea for your a AEW character always going to be the chairman or did you know the way that that segment went with Cody or the way that it ended that's kind of what led to that that's that's sparked at all the chair shot that was it uh as much controversy and as much backlash as it got it you know but then again if you look at everything now everybody's using chairs they're not necessarily

hitting in the head but now everyone Everybody's swinging chairs. So it kind of started something, but it brought back something that was gone away from wrestling for so long. Well, the chair shots to the back were always, I feel like those were always a thing. They were few and far between. They're much more, you know, we're much more frequent now. But the chair shot to the head was what A put me on the map in that company. Oh, yeah.

At that time as a monster villain, kind of turn things from this happy-go-lucky perfect-10 thing to, oh, okay, wow, that's what we're getting. And that's where the chairman thing was born. So I just kind of kept it, ran with it, and had yet hit someone in the head once again. So, you know, it's a moniker, it's a tagline. It hangs with me for the moment in terms of what's going to happen. Makes great T-shirts.

I might swing it again soon. No one buys heel T-stitch. No one buys my stuff. Not anymore. They bought all the former stuff. They bought all that, but no, bad guys. Good bad guys don't sell merchandise. does. Tony Kahn talked about it that night. The Bucks talked about it that night. I actually interviewed the Bucks about it. The chair was gimmicked. What went wrong? So I always get, it's funny because if the chair was gimmicked, then nothing would have went wrong. So clearly the chair wasn't fully gimmicked. It's always one of the, like, it's a steel chair. There's going to be a part of it that isn't doctored in any way, shape, or form. And, you know, that was a concern of ours.

throughout the evening, we're just going through the chairs. There was two separate ones. There was one chair, and there was a backup chair just in case we lost one or whatever like that. They were both the exact same, nothing different. It's just one of those things where a fraction of a centimeter was off. Either I was too far away. And I want to ask, even Cody, he said, you know, I leaned in too much. It's like, no, it's no one's really fault.

It was a moment in time. It's what we did. I swang for the fences. he leaned in and it's just that one little bit caught him. I didn't know he was bleeding because I kind of had a moment with Brandy where I looked at her and kind of had a little stare down at there and then I looked at him to get kind of like that one more shot and I saw the retina. I was like, yeah.

So, you know, that's not the way in terms of storyline, it came off better than it came off the best case scenario. So, personally, you know, the guy's a very good friend of mine. I don't want to put 10 stables in his head. So, but it is wrestling. It, you know, things happen. I'm pretty sure I'll be on the tail end of a bad shot at some point to my, in the next two years before I wrap things up. Were you, did you, were you okay with the fact that they were putting the narrative out there that the chair was gimmicked? I thought it was premature.

Yeah. I thought we could have, you know, if, if, if, if, if, you were. If they hadn't, I would have probably capitalized on a more situation more. I would have kind of taken the reins in terms of, you know, exactly what happened was supposed to. But, you know, in a world where, you know, concussions are a serious thing, that was the main concern. It wasn't the blood or the staples. It was to make sure he was physically, mentally okay. And he was, that was the first thing that doctor checked out.

He was at the desk running the rest of the show. literally a half an hour later still headwrapped still in his gear still blood dripping off the back of his neck so i mean but that guy is just he's he's you know the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree on that one he's just like his dad and you've known him for many years many years what's different about cody in this role from the cody that you knew growing up he's just coming to his his own i remember when we were teaming in o v w uh dusty who i don't talk about very much because you know, it means, you know, Dusty's Dusty to me. I remember when we were teaming up a long time ago,

Dusty's like, yeah, we'll put you guys together for a little bit. Cody doesn't have a lot of experience, you do. Cody's very popular here as a baby face. You're new, you're not. So it was a perfect matching. But Dusty also told me, he goes, eventually you guys will split off because Cody's destined to be a single star. So that was his father's plan.

And you can say that, oh, every father would want that for his son. They want him to be, but he has literally, can you picture him in a tag team being a tag team wrestler nowadays? He has literally come into his own as a singles star.

So that is the difference. Especially these last three years. Like ever since he left WWE, everything he did on the Indies, I feel like really solidified. Yes, he is a star. He thinks very, very well in advance. I almost admire the way he thinks.

Almost jealous. of the way he thinks because he can think so far ahead. If you think about what happened that night at, I think it was Fighter Fest when I hit him with the chair, he set up, he did, I think, three or four different things, if I really think about it. He made a monster heel out of me.

He made Darby Allen that night in the ring. MJF came out. He kind of planted the seeds with MJF there. That was all in the span of 20 minutes. Wow, yeah. If you think about what he did, he kind of set himself up, not for just the feud with me, but the feud after me.

Meanwhile, making a young talent like Darby Allen, who people might not have been familiar with, they know him now. Yes. So he's very business-oriented, and he thinks further down the line. He's just, he's coming to his own as a performer, as a thinker, as a boss, as a producer, as a writer. He's just, he's the business through and through. So I imagine that the last time we spoke, you were, you would at least have conversations with AEW about, you know,

whether you were going to sign there or not. What was the main thing that was going to make you go, yes, I'm in? Coming in in a different role. So when I was asked, what do you want to do coming in here? I said, I just really want to be a heel. I had asked to be a heel probably about a year and a half before I left WWE. I can't imagine Ty Dillinger a heel. Right.

But at the same time, what I was doing as a baby face wasn't really working either. It was just kind of time to either switch. The crowds were. turning on me at live events. So I was like, oh, this is a perfect opportunity. So when I left there... A perfect opportunity. I see what you did there.

Wow. Nice. Nice. You said it. You picked up on it. I appreciate that. You don't miss a thing, do you? Especially in your interviews.

That's why you're so good. I listen. So that was the first thing is like, if I can switch and see what I'm keeping below as a heel, that would be fantastic. So I was given that opportunity. And the fact that it was just something groundbreaking. I say this to many people like, Everybody always talks about the attitude era.

Like the Monday Night Wars, well, it took another almost 20 years for something like that to come around again. So something like this that happened with AEW and WW and now NXT and AEW and all that kind of stuff. It's not going to happen again in my in-ring career. I'm not going to be a part of anything like that.

So I had a chance to get in on the ground level of something fresh. What is new in wrestling anymore? Very little. So that was very appealing to me. I wasn't promised the world. I didn't ask for pushes. I didn't make any demands.

It was like, look, if you want to work here, we love to have you. And it's all on you. You're going to get out of this what you put in. And that was all I really wanted. Did you have the heel character in mind? Nope. Because it's so different. Like this slow, methodical walk to the ring,

completely different entrance music, obviously. I'm just a big believer. The business is evolving, and I know that kind of rubs some people who have been in the business a very long time the wrong way. Oh, it's too fast. The moves are too high risk. Like everything, the industry evolves. So when I sit back and I go, okay, it is getting a little faster. It is getting a lot more high risk.

And a lot of heels nowadays want to be like maybe the cool heel. They want to do stuff to get kind of cheered. Okay, well, I'll take a step back. What's old can be new again. So you know what? I won't do anything flashy. I won't have crazy pyro. I won't come out and try and amp up the fans to get cheer.

I don't know. I'm all business. I walk with Tully Blanchard. We care about one thing, winning, money, all that kind of horsemen stuff. I'll lead the fancy stuff to my opponents. Let them get cheered. I get booed and we do what needs to be done. Whether it works or not, I don't know.

That just depends on the audience, but that's just the mentality. I'm a big fan of the old school, Mr. Perfect, Rick Martel, Rick Rood, kind of heel guys. I just love those kind of heels. Those are the guys I grew up on. What's funny is when we did our last interview, we talked about it after. I said, I don't know if I should title this, Ty Dillinger or Sean Spears. And you're like, well, you pick. It's up to you because you were wrestling in the Indies as Sean Spears,

but obviously all the WWE fans knew you as Ty Dillinger. And I posted it as Ty Dillinger and got so much backlash. Sorry about that No, no, it's just like You know this is Sean Spears And I'm like, yeah, I get it You obviously understand why I did this And then you signed with AEW

And I quickly changed the title So Sean Spears That's the beautiful thing about our fan base And that's, you know, A lot of people will Give you slack on social media And all that kind of stuff And they say what they say

But at the end of the day Like wrestling fans are the fan base There's no one more loyal than them Like The same people that ripped on you for using the wrong name or the same people that rip on me for, you suck, man, you can't do anything, or you're a job guy, but as soon as you go,

you call me tight-out, they're like, hey, man, no, his name. Like, they're just, they're very loyal, but they're as part of, they're a part of this as much as we are. It's just, you know, you always hear the same terminology without them, there is no us. Right. That's the truth.

They'll tell you what they want. I think I said this last time. They'll tell you quick if they like something, if they don't. Oh, yeah. So, you know, if they like something and they want something, It's my job to not give it to them. You inspired a lot of people in that conversation by basically saying the 20s is when you figure out what you don't want to do.

And the 30s is when you know, you really establish yourself. I can't tell you how many people came up to me at Independence when I would do meet and greets and VIPs and stuff like that. And they said they listened to that and that was the one line that stuck with them throughout that interview. Because a lot of young people, and it's so hard to understand this when you're in your 20s or in your 30s, you panic when especially going. you look around and other people are married with kids or they have their job and they're making money and they have the house and you're like what am I doing and I cannot stress enough like I'm a big 100% I would make I would give up the salary I'm making now to make 50,000 dollars and be happy doing what I'm doing it just so happens that I found early the one thing

that I love more than anything else the one thing I've always wanted to do and I was very fortunate and lucky enough to meet the right people and be able to do it for a living that's I I mean, you can't ask for something better than that, but it's all about happiness. I cannot preach that. If you're happy what you're doing, everything else will come to you. I guarantee it. How much happier would you say you are now versus one year ago? It's night and day.

And I don't mean that to dog on anybody else because where I was before, that machine is just going to keep moving. It's going to keep moving with or without you. It's a clear-cut case. It's continued on without Ty Dillinger. and it will continue on without anybody who John Zina left. You know what I mean? Business still rolls on. It's just the environment that I allowed myself mentally to get into while I was there.

It wasn't the company. It was just I wasn't happy being where I was there. So I needed to take ownership. They can't change to work around you. You need to take ownership of your own situation. And that's the thing. A lot of people are afraid to take that first leap. Yeah.

that first leap can can change everything. She's got to take that first step. But I am night and day happier. And as you said earlier in this interview, everything has... Yeah. Things have gotten better. But I'll be honest with you.

I was scared that I wouldn't. I got to take a quick time out from this chat with Sean Spears to thank our sponsor for this episode, bet online. And bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on All things sports. And I mean, you've got March Madness, the Masters, and Major League opening

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BetOnline. It's your online sportsbook expert. Really? Yeah, I was petrified to leave. You get, like, that's the only place I wanted to be since I was a kid. Yeah. And then you're making really good money and your wife works there and you're sitting there like, am I doing the right thing?

Like, if you question yourself a million times, that's why it was like a six-month process. I went back and forth. I didn't tell many people. My mom called my sister, I didn't, my mom just came down to visit last week and she called my sister crying because she had read somewhere online. I didn't tell my mother that I was leaving. leaving or that I did leave. Wow.

I didn't tell anybody because I didn't want any outside influence. I needed this decision to be on me and me alone. Even my best friends, I didn't really tell because they would have, they might have influenced me or, and I might have said something, maybe go, okay, I'll stick around. So I wanted this to be strictly on me. But I tell her, I should have, because she called my, what's he doing? Is he okay? Did he, did they fire him again?

Fire him again. So I was like, no, no, no, mom, I'm good. There's my call. everything's okay. They were good about it. They were fantastic about it and everything's okay. So yeah, man, happiness.

Chase some damn happiness and everything will fall into place, I promise. You must have felt good though when you had a ton of indie bookings and a lot of autographs signs. June and July was insane. Like as soon as you were available to do stuff, you were booked up like crazy.

That's a testament to how wonderful wrestling is right now. Like I can't, like, people are making a living. That's why, like I tell these kids that we have here, there is no better time right now to get into wrestling because you can work everywhere. And then a lot of times are like, well, how do I get bookings? A lot of people that are watching this right now that are in the industry and they want more bookings. How do I get bookings? Here's how.

There's social media. DM 100 promotions in a 700-mile radius. Make the damn drives. You'll get 100 knows. Then you DM 100 more and you might get one yes. All you need is one yes. That's it. to get the ball rolling.

That's it. We live in a very social media-based world where everything's accessible. There's a lot of work. There's a lot of ways to promote yourself. Do it. And when you were coming up with the business, what was it?

It was sending an email. It was a map quest. It was an email. And it was like, hey man, your buddy knows a guy who has a promotion. Can I come with you to the show? Like, my trainer took me to every show.

He went to, I wasn't booked on them. He would go to the show. He'd normally... This is a show. Eric Young? Yeah, he would, of course, be in the main event most of the time. He'd say, hey, I got a student here. Can he get on the show? He'll work, you know, second match or opening match and, you know, lose to wherever you want. He just needs experience. I remember watching you in one of your final farewell matches in Ontario. And you were a heel, and you were working as Sean Spears, and the crowd was chanting Britney at you because of Britney Spears.

Right. I'll never forget that. Yeah. I used to get there was a couple of good, uh, even open. VW, they used to chant Brittany at me too. They used to say, like, Sean Spears men. They used to say a lot of, I don't know if you can, it's funny. Sure. But they would make signs or stuff like that. It's just they come up with the, but that's gold to me.

Like, if you're giving me material that I can play with, like last night, wrestling Cleveland for AW Dark and the rest of the best friends and Orange Cassidy's out there. And the crowd's still chanting 10 and they're chanting, you want hugs. And then, you know, so I'll jump down. I'll hug Tully. and, like, you're just, you know, that's the beautiful thing about professional wrestling is that it's live audience. They'll give you something. And if you're quick enough or you have the experience to play with it, like, that's what makes an entertaining show.

Like, and that's the beautiful thing about having the experience to be able to kind of capitalize on that and hopefully try and conduct it into a way that benefits everybody. And everybody leaves in a good mood. Like, that's, that's wrestling. I get to go to the back and go, oh, my God, I'm sore, but man, they had a blast out there. The crowd had a blast night to leave going, dude, that was fun. We ripped on him, and he left, you know, with his tail-tucked between his leg, what a damn good time. That's wrestling, baby. Are you just working with Tully for the cameras, or have you guys like, are you guys, like, you know, friends backstage?

No, we're, we talk. We were just texting when I got to the school today. Tully Blanchard texts. Yes, he texts. I'm pretty sure he has Tessa to thank for that. Tessa probably taught him how to do that and helped him with Instagram and all that kind of other stuff. but yeah we had we had five a m flights last night we were at uh we had a glass of wine last night at the bar when we got back to the hotel first time we hung out in san antonio went to his

house we went to the gym together went up for a bite to eat uh no tully and i have um you know he he's one of my favorite wrestlers of all time not saying that because i'm with the guy now but because growing up i always saw myself as kind of like like an intercontinental champion level type or a television champion type. I always thought that would be the best fit for me. I don't know why. I was just always drawn to that maybe because like Mr. Perfect was that guy. Okay.

And that was kind of guys. Maybe that's probably why. So Tully was a television champion and a hell of a good one. So we got along very well and, you know, I want to know the stories. I want to know what his career was like. I want to know what he was going through if he went through anything that I've went through, you know, and then to hear his spin on things. And, you know, there's a lot of good life lessons to be learned from my,

a man who's lived and done so much. So he's very wise. He's a very good friend. He's a sweetheart of a man, but he can still kick some ass if need be. He still spiked Powell driving people. I was giggling the first time we had to do that. I'm like, this is really happening. This is really happening.

I was like, right now I'm Arne Anderson. I'm Arn-Anne-Aniston. And like, it's happening. I'm like, this is wild. Is there anything he specifically taught you over these last six months that you now implemented into your matches? One thing that's pretty important, he's like you have to learn to work at different levels with different guys. So, you know, you can't sell the same way for, you know, your main event champion that you can for a guy that's, you know, only a few years in or new to the company.

Okay. So, you know what I mean? And I had to kind of step back and look at a few of my matches. I was like, well, I'm selling the same way for everybody. That was one thing that was like, wow, okay, I didn't think about that. Because for a long time, I'm not in that, I haven't been in a main event role, pretty much ever. So that alluded me, that thought. So things like that that makes you sit back and think and look at the broader picture and stuff like that.

And then you start finding different ways to sell for different guys. And then you start thinking about, okay, well, when I work this guy, this is how I'm going to sell what he does like that. And I'm going to sell this like that. And so that's the fun. It kind of, it opens you up to more creativity. And for a long time, that was really suppressed. I had a hard time thinking and coming up with stuff. But through his kind of teachings and guidance,

like you start going, huh, maybe I could do that, that, that. So it's been great all around. So as far as I know, it's going to continue for quite some time. Can he still work a match? You can still, if I, he'll tell you no. But I've still seen him throw punches. I've seen him jump off the steps and do spike pile drivers. You know what I mean?

Tully could work a match if he'd be, yes. I 100% believe this. He's going to turn on you. He just turned 66. Wow, he looks great for 66. Dude, he does like 500 squats three times a week, free squats. He's a machine. He's going to turn on you.

He would never. He's going to turn on you. It'd be the death of him. He's going to turn on you. No, I got a chair. He better be able to swing. He probably could swing the chair. He can do anything.

Don't do it, Tull. Don't do it. Same team. Have you ever. I guess you've met Tessa, right? Yes. Have you been at any shows where she's been working? We were, one of my last independence that I was on recently in Phoenix, she was there.

She was on that show, too. So, yeah, I think she was working in that show. I think it was like a four-way match. We've been on a couple, but not many. Not many, not many matches together. But she's aware of, you know, I'll say, oh, hey, you know, how's your pops? And they're all good. And, you know, he's loving what he's doing.

He's really happy. like well I'm twice as happy I got to be twice happy and so like you know to hear from her that he's really happy in the roll lady's in and he's kind of reinvigorated to you know enjoy the business all over again because he only had a 13 year career really right I was blown away because it seemed like it was so much bigger yeah but that's the thing it was so massive a career he was so on the top level yeah during his era that it just seemed so long because he was at that high level for that extended period of time. He only had a 13-year career.

Who was it that pitched you the idea that you were going to be with Tully? Oh, Cody. Ah. After you had been signed? It's like, okay. Yep. And now he's with Aaron Anderson. Yeah.

Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Right? Right, guys? So when Cody pitches you this idea, are you like this? Yeah. Oh, it was a no-brainer.

He was like, hey, what do you? you think of? And I was like, are you serious? Have you talked to him? He goes, nope. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. I never met him until we had linked up for the very first time. But no, and that's what I mean. Like, he thinks so far down the road. And it's a perfect fitting. And the best part is that we haven't done anything, really. Have you heard us speak yet? Not really. Have you heard him cut a promo? Other than the interview with JR. No, you haven't heard us do much at all. Huh. There's still a lot to do.

We talk about it all the time. We're like, okay, when we get a chance, we're going to say this, this, this, and this. Yep, we're going to say this, this, this, and this. Like, we got stuff lined up, but if you kind of look at the landscape, there's other pieces being put in play that. You can go, huh. Excuse me brought up Arn Anderson. I'm like, yeah.

Interesting. Yeah. Well, if you, I mean, you say you only want to wrestle two more years. I'm sure you have many more years in you if you want. It's possible. I can still walk up straight. I can still play, pick up hockey. I can still do all that kind of.

stuff, which I'm... People play hockey in Florida? Yeah, you can find a rink. Maitland, Florida, I think there's a rink. We're actually looking into booking one out right now and getting, like, me and breeze and harps and the few people, yeah. I'll come down for it. Dude, you're invited.

Okay. Bring your Canadian skates. I will. We'll hop on there. Bring my CCM tax. Sorry. It's okay. Fire a couple, yeah, I might have to cut that one out, but we'll take a couple shots,

let it rip, buddy. Yeah, and then I think after you play hockey, you have to drink Molson. I believe that's how it works. Or LaBette. God. Those are going to be tough to find around here. Very tough. You can't find those around here.

Coors. Coors, but it's still, you know. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, two years. If I make anything on top of 20 years is gravy. Who do you still need to work that you haven't worked? I kind of hit everybody.

That's the thing like, in WWE I didn't have like, you know, a prominent role. But there was a time where I was mixed up with AJ for an extended period of time. I got to work with him. Those are great matches. We had, but even the matches that television didn't see, we had four ways for the U.S. title with, like, Owens and Zane and, like, in different countries, and, like, they were a blast.

That little bit I got to do with Randy. Like, even we, I worked a live event with Randy for, like, 15 minutes. Like, that learning experience is, like, unreal. When you're in there with a guy who's talking to you just, like, we're talking right now. While you're working the match? Oh, yeah. And you're sitting there going, oh, and you're saying, hey, man, this is so much fun.

This is like, you know, those guys were too on top of my list now. I know, you know, I got to work with Cody again, which was kind of neat to kind of bring it back. Like, after all those years, we come back in a very big capacity in front of a massive audience on a massive show. So that was really cool, too. I mean, if I really sat down to think about it, there's a, I like to work with the Young Bucks, too. Like, there's just a lot of guys. I miss working with the revival. I miss working with Ziegler.

I think, you know, there's, but I've got to work with so many good talent. Yeah. Yeah, there's still some guys on the list. You know, I've wrestled guys like Orange Cassion live event, or not live events, I'm sorry, like Independence. That, you know, if we get a chance to do that in front of the world somewhere, it's just going to be unreal, you know. There's a few.

There's a few. I'm pretty sure you guys can come up with some matches that you'd like to see, you know, happen. And I'm pretty sure sooner or later we can do that before my time's up. What a special time to be involved in wrestling. Right? Yeah. For everybody. Yeah.

From the outside and then, you know, being on the inside like you are. Yeah. That's the best part of being on the inside looking out. I'm like, anybody wants to get into this and they're like, oh, I'm just not sure if I want to be a wrestler. Okay, well, what do you like about wrestling? Oh, I just like, I like the writing. I like the storytelling. I'm like, well, maybe you should think about perhaps being a writer.

Yeah. There's a place for everybody. You do ring announcing. Yeah. Yeah. Among all the other incredible things. And that's the thing is like you love professional wrestling. I do.

You tried. Back in the day, you got in the ring, you physically trained for it. You've interviewed The Rock. You've interviewed Jennifer Lopez. I've seen all these massive stars, Hollywood, top of the line legends that are going to live throughout time. You've interviewed these people, yet you still are taking the time to go and ring an out at an independent. And you know how much I'm making at the independent show tomorrow? Zero dollars.

Yeah. But I love it. I love it. Also, Joey Ryan's on the show. And I was just excited to be able to work at a show with him. and I'll do an interview with him so it'll all work out. And it's one of my best friends

that runs the company. But how excited are you for it? So excited. How happy are you are? Oh my God. It's amazing. It's just one more thing that you can do. There's a place for everybody in this industry

if you love it. If it makes you happy, there's a place in it. Managing, refereeing, behind the scenes, lighting, setting up a promo set. There's a million things someone can do that. I'll be in this industry until I'm done. I won't necessarily be in the ring. I might not necessarily be a producer.

I have a school, so I'm already a coach, but I just might be around it. Somehow, there will be some place for me because of the, you know, hopefully 20 years' experience that I have at the time. It's just because I love what I do. Yeah, this is it for you. This is like pretty much it. There was a time where I was going, maybe I should just get into something else. What would you possibly get into? Well, that's when my wife had.

She was like, what else would you do? I was like, well, I could go back and work at a casino. She was like, no, you couldn't. Oh, yeah, that's right. You were a dealer at one time. Yeah, I made good money, and it was fine. It was my dad's in there. but it's just she's like you'd be miserable

like yeah probably and then there's just nothing else that affords the freedom to just create and have fun and there's something about getting in the ring with someone you don't really know putting your life in each other's hands tearing it up

the crowd loves it you love it you come in the back and now that bond whatever it is is stronger because you both in some weird way even though you barely know each other you trust each other yeah and that is very unique yeah in this world. There's no other business like wrestling.

There's nothing like it. Did you work at Fallsview Casino or Casino, Niagara? Casino, Niagara. The people that live in Niagara, have been in Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls represent, man. Niagara Falls represent, yes. I worked at midnight shift so I can wrestle. It started at 4.30 in the morning.

I worked at 12.30 noon. What would you say is the biggest mistake that you see when you're training new wrestlers? It's not necessarily a mistake. It's a common theme. they're very excited. They want to go quick. They want to go fast. They want to go.

That's excited. That's excitement. I was the same way. I was 100% the same way. And that could fall in line kind of what's happening today. The business is advancing quick. It's getting more high risk. It's getting a lot more faster.

And the same thing I tell my students is, well, I mean, I wouldn't tell anybody else this unless they ask. But it's very important to slow down every now and then. because, you know, you don't want it to get to a point where it takes someone getting seriously hurt or worse for them to go, oh, okay, maybe we need to slow down for a second here. I'm hoping it doesn't get to that point, but the young kids, they're excited, they're ready to get in there, but we want to make sure that the fundamentals are solid before we move forward with anything else, safety first. That's where we tell people when they come through these doors, you're like, we promise you nothing. You know, Breeze works for that company. I work for this company. we don't guarantee you're going to get a trial.

We don't guarantee you're going to get a contract. We guarantee you just a mere few things. We'll teach you how to wrestle. We'll teach you how to protect yourself and we'll teach how to protect your opponent. And that is all. The rest is on you. Yeah. ship on them, but we're guiding them in the right direction.

When would you say for you was when you took that first step to the next level when you were coming up in the Indies? Was there a certain match or was it, does someone notice you? No, I think it was. Because you were a name on the Ontario independence scene rather quickly. I got, well, it was who I was associated with too. So it was, you know, Eric Young, it was Derek Wilde. It was Cody Deiner.

Yeah, it was a guy named the hacker. It was... Yeah. Oh, yeah. You would hit people with a keyboard. Yeah. He was great. I remember that.

I remember that. He was a very good, very good friend of mine. I had a match with him. I believe it was called Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling, which is one of the main promotions in Ontario when I first when I first broke in. And it was hard for me to get on those shows because a lot of top talent in Ontario were working that shows. Like, it wasn't like a lot of the new guys worked the first two or three matches.

And then the top guys worked the rest. It was top guys from start to finish. So it was really hard to crack that roster. I think once I started becoming a mainstay on there, people started going, okay. And then because I was a mainstay there, other companies started booking me as a higher talent on their shows. And then I win titles here, and I win titles here. And then I still wouldn't win one in FSPW, but my stock was rising. So in a weird roundabout, small, independent, you know, days of the Internet, keyboard forums kind of way, I kind of got my stock up in that regard.

Wow. Yeah, I remember seeing your name floating around that. But it was by association. I would work with Eric Young. If you're working with Eric Young, you're a pretty big talent. If you're working with Derek Wilde, you're a pretty big talent. Diener, same thing. Jake O'Reilly, you're a pretty big talent.

Was he Cody Dealer or was he Cody Steele still? He was Cody Steele when I first started for a few years, and then he switched over. But what a gem of a talent. What an adapter. You can adapt to any situation. Still going strong. That guy's going to last for another 20 years. Oh, absolutely, no question.

You hear that? Yeah. I don't know if the camera's picking it up. Maybe. What are they saying? I don't know. I hope they're beating the hell of each other, though. Got to learn them young.

In the day-to-day of being at work, what would you say is the biggest difference between being at AW now versus when you were at NXT or WWE? The biggest difference, it's very relaxed. Like, for example, I got there yesterday. I was the very last match of the night tag match All right What do you guys want Well you're still looking for a tag partner

This guy's your tag partner tonight Go out there and have fun with him That was my direction Go out there and have fun with them And who was producing your match B.J. Whitmore Oh, he's great And all he said was

That's all he said to me And then he comes to me later He goes, all right What do you guys got on? What are you guys thinking? I was like maybe this this He goes, okay. And then we had, like, I think, 12 minutes and went out there, and the refs like, oh, you got a few minutes to go.

I was like, yeah, you can stop giving me times. I'm going over. Because we're having fun, and, you know, they can chop up. And it's dark, yeah. And, you know what I mean? But it's very relaxed. A lot of the talent is out by the ring. Like, the locker rooms are almost empty during the day.

Like, people are having fun. They're excited to wrestle. They're excited to, I don't know how it is in WWU or NXT at the moment. But, like, there was a time when I was. and still in WWE where a lot of people would stay in the locker room until they had to go and do their match just because they would try to avoid certain other aspects

of the company or other people in the company or whatever like that or, you know, office stuff. And now, it's very relaxed, it's very chill, it's very, you know, we're still new, still in a new company, we still need to iron out some kinks and still need to kind of, you know, build the company up and other

departments and things like that, but everybody's really enjoying themselves. And it is a, you know, you have to step up. You have to kind of earn you keep, and that's how wrestling should be. Our roster is very young. Our executive vice presidents are very young and very talented, and they're kind of the measuring stick.

That's where you kind of, that's the level you want to be at, the Moxley level, the Jericho level. So it's good and it's inspiring for guys like me who are a little older. I'm older than most of our younger roster, but they're on the up and up. So I got to keep up where I'm going to have left behind. So, you know, you keep saying you're old, which I don't know why you keep saying that. But we should just say you're experienced. I'm seasoned.

You are, you might have the most experience in AEW. Well, there's Jericho. Well, of course. Jericho. But you're top five, I'd say. Yeah. If we're not counting like Arne Anderson or Tully. Yeah, you're talking.

Yeah. I'm probably top five. I mean, I don't know. Kenny's been going. Or Moxley. I might have a little bit more time on Moxley. I think you do because, you know, he's a little bit younger than you. But, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I got some depth. Yeah. I got some depth. Depth. I like that. There we go.

Yeah. It could be a jack of all. That's the other cool thing is like I've done commentary there. You know what I mean? I've kind of helped put together a few matches for other people here and there. Like so they're pretty much, I'm able to become a jack of all trades while still focusing on the one thing that I want to do, which is wrestling. Great. So.

So it's challenging. Yeah. And that's, I enjoy that. Either I'm going to fall on my face or I'm going to rise to the occasion, but at least that's all on me. So I can't be faulted for that. So if people want to find out more about flatbacks, where do they go? Flatbacks wrestling school.com.

All right, I'll pin that below too in the comments. So you can check that out. You can find us on Twitter at Flatbacks, capital T. We had the shirt hanging up here, but. Right. Oh, no, it's falling. That's all right. The story of my life falling.

Bump and feed, baby. And then on Instagram, we are, oh, what is our flatbacks training. Yeah, Breeze is like, I think I, it's, I can't remember. I'm a social media guy. So if it's bad, it's my fault. That's my responsibility. And it's eight weeks of intensive training.

How many times a year? We're able to hold. So we do eight weeks, we take a week off, and then we go right back into it. Oh, wow. So we're able to get, I think probably what's that. Five? Five, five.

Yeah, five passes in. Yeah. I failed at math and sciences. I was terrible. Yeah, I heard you talking on Cole Cabana's podcast. Yeah. You applied to go to university, and in Canada, is a big distinction between university and college.

And, yeah, where'd you apply? I applied to Western was my first choice. McMaster University. I want to say Windsor? Okay. I want to say those were the main three. Okay. Nope.

Nope. All right. Well, I think it all worked out for you. It worked out. Yeah. It worked out pretty big. But that was the time where they were harping, like I said, in Colts thing on, you know, education is a backup. Education is a backup.

I don't necessarily believe that nowadays. You've got to go for what makes you happy. Yeah. And there's always time for school. There is. I also know a lot of people that graduated and got degrees in one thing, and now they're doing something completely different. That's most people. So, you know, why not just.

spend that time and that money going for what you want. Yeah. There's more great advice from Sean Spears, ladies and gentlemen. I got, I got some depth. You got some depth. Who knew I could talk a little bit? Huh? I don't get these very often.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Well, I'm going to mix it up in the ring. Yeah, let's go see what you got. Not much anymore. Nice, yeah. I have some chops. I got some knife edge.

So we'll post this video first so that then we can tease to like, oh, when the video of me training drops in a few days, you can see how that all went down. Yeah, it's going to be great. I trained in 2003. Squared circle, right? Squared circle. Yeah, Toronto. I've been through those doors.

2003 was a long time ago. When was the last time I took a bump? I went to Gangrel's school. He's in South Florida. I did a segment there about a year ago on TV. Oh, you'll be okay. Actually, I took a bump. I did some interviews at Impact Wrestling like a few months ago.

And we did it in a ring. And I was with Ken Shamrock. I'm like, did you mind if I take a bump before I interview? He's like, sure, man. Go ahead. And he's like, hey, that was okay. As long as he doesn't have to, do you. Yeah.

Yeah, it's good. Okay. Yeah, you'd be fine. Stuck your chin. Yeah. So it's been a few months since I took a bump. It's been a year since I did anything. And it's been 17 years since I trained.

Well, either way, man, things worked out for you. I guess so. Things worked out for you. Basically, you know, and for people that don't know my story, I was going to Squared Circle in Toronto in the summer between my second and third year of university. Between my and for, you know, everyone else that's between the sophomore and junior year. And I was going and it was four days a week, which is a big commitment. It was Tuesday and Thursday and all day, Saturday and Sunday. And it was like a half hour drive from my hometown.

And then when I went to school, which was in Waterloo, it's like an hour drive. And four days a week is a ton when you're trying to go to school. Yeah. I just traveled. The miles out up quick. And I had to make a decision. What was the most important thing right now? Graduating from college or university or graduating from wrestling school because I couldn't do both.

Right. Even though someone like Cody Dean or was doing both at the exact same time. But it was just too much. Was that decision on your own? Was it influenced? No. No. I made it on my own.

And I can tell right now that you still believe 100% in your heart that you made the right to say. Oh, I do. So, yeah. That's a perfect example of following your own path. That's beautiful. Yeah, and I still get to do stuff in the wrestling world. You still circled back around. You still have friends, and have schools.

You still have buddies that run companies. It's funny how things work out if you follow what makes you happen. Things will always come your way. That's what it's all about. Thank you, Stuart. Good to do this again. Yeah, good to see you guys again. Now I'm going to get him in the ring and kick his ass.

And what a guy. And what a chat with Sean Spears. Ty Dillinger, whatever you want to call. Thank you for checking this out. Thank you for listening all the way until the end. If we're still here with us, take a screenshot. Tag me. Tag Sean Spears.

I know he'll be happy to see that. And let us know which part of this interview stood out the most for you. And yes, I realized that in talking about the veterans in AEW, we left out one of the best. Dustin Rhodes, who is, of course, one of the best in AEW. But with that said, it's amazing to think that Sean Spears has been wrestling at the level that he's been wrestling at for 20 plus years. And he still has much more in the tank, both in the ring and then in his ring in his wrestling school with Tyler Breeze, flatbacks where they're training. The people are going to be taken over in the future. And I did a training session there.

I used to train to be a pro wrestler. You might be aware of this. It was many years ago. but when I was in college, it was my dream to be a pro wrestler. I went to wrestling school in Toronto and basically had to decide. Was I going to go to wrestling school, or was I going to continue going to school school? And university ended up winning out. I ended up finishing my communications degree at Wilford-Lorea University.

Here I am as a broadcaster now, and I get to cover wrestling. So I feel like everything kind of all worked out here. But you can check out my video with the 20 chops that I took. to the chest. That's going to be dropping tomorrow. So if you're listening to this in the future, it's already on YouTube, but you'll be seeing that on my YouTube channel.

Tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Eastern Time. We're going to live premiere that. So we're all going to be hanging out and watching that and commenting on it as it happens. And if you miss my interview with Tyler Breeze from earlier in the week, it's available now on either my podcast or YouTube channel. You can check that out and see the wisdom that he has to drop. Kobe Bryant said everything negative.

Pressure, challenges is all an opportunity for me to rise. Such wise words from Kobe Bryant. So let that sit with you. As we head into the weekend, have a great weekend. And we will see you next week for, oh, man, a plethora of interviews. Woo! The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to.

to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then?

To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.