AEW star Shawn Spears was interviewed on “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet.” Here are some transcribed highlights and scroll down to listen to the entire interview.
Thoughts on Tony Khan:
“I have never seen him yawn, so I’m assuming no (that he doesn’t sleep.) He might be half a cyborg, who knows? But that guy has a ton on his plate and just a steel trap of a mind. He remembers everything, every detail. When I first met him, we were having conversations. He’s like, ‘I remember the match you had.’ I forgot about it. I was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah, it was in such and such a city.’ I’m like, ‘Holy sh*t. Are you just buttering me up?’ No, he remembers everything. But he’s not just like that with wrestling. I’ve walked into his office and I’ve seen him. He’s got his iPad, I hope I’m not gonna get in trouble for saying this, but he’s got his iPad set up. He’s watching a Jags game and he’s watching a Fulham game. He can multitask like no one I’ve seen before in the midst of putting a card together and getting everything done. What a sweetheart of a man. He gave me all the time in the world when my mom passed and now that Austin’s been born, I had all the time in the world to be home with my wife because it’s just us here. He’s just a good man, a busy man, but a good man.”
On the conversation that took place when Cody Rhodes told Spears to hit him as hard as he could on his head with a chair
“‘Swing for the fences’ was the term. I said, ‘Okay, put your hands up’, and he goes, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Buddy, you gotta put your hands up’, and he says, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Damn it.’ So again, it’s Cody, I trust him. He trusts me. You can shave down a chair as much as you want. It’s not the flat part, it’s the lip of the chair that is always the most dangerous part. That’s usually the part that catches somebody, and in this case, it was, and it was just a fraction off. He’ll take the rap himself. I’m swinging, so I take the rap for it. It’s my fault. But I hit him and it was a wonderful reaction and it got the shock value that it did. You hear the term, ‘red equals green’, and it’s, you know, ‘blood is money’, and all that kind of stuff. I just remember hitting him, listening, and I look at Brandi, and we have a little moment there. I look back at Cody, and that’s when I see the pool, and I just went, ‘Oh sh*t.’ I look at Brandi, and she’s kind of looking at Cody. Then she looks at me, and I go, ‘Sorry, I gotta get out of here.’”
“I got to the back and I had tears in my eyes. I was profusely apologizing to her because I felt so bad. I loved that guy. He’s like a brother. Then I go to check on him and he’s on the table face down and I go, ‘Hey, man, look, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?’ He’s like, ‘You are the most unsafe professional wrestler I’ve ever seen in my life.’ He starts just busting my balls. I’m like, ‘You don’t understand where I’m at right now man. I’m having a hard time.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’d have a hard time too. I am having a hard time getting stitches put in my head.’ I’m just like, ‘Ah, this guy.’ But that was the night it got, business wise, it got a lot of buzz. It set us up for what would happen at All Out.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Also, be sure to subscribe to “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” on your mobile device by clicking here if you have an iOS device or here on your Android device.