Shawn Spears

Real name: Ronnie Arneill
Height: 6’3
Weight: 235 lbs.
Date of birth: February 19, 1981
Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Pro debut: 2001
Trained by: Eric Young, Derek Wylde & Cody Deaner
Finishing move: C4

Biography

– Arniel began his career under the ringname Shawn Spears
– On February 21, 2005, Spears appeared on WWE Heat, teaming with Mikael Yamaha in a loss to The Hurricane & Rosey
– On New Years Day 2006, Spears defeated Reggie Marley to win the PWA Pure Wrestling Title
– On January 21, 2006, Arniel signed a WWE development deal and was assigned to OVW
– On May 31, 2006, Arniel (still wrestling as Shawn Spears) made his OVW debut, defeating Simon Dean
– On September 6, 2006, Spears & Cody Runnels defeated OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Deuce & Domino by DQ
– On October 18, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated Gothic Mayhem (Johnny Punch & Pat Buck) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On November 2, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Bad Company (Mike Kruel & Shawn Osbourne) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles and win the services of Cherry as their manager
– On November 22, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated La Resistance (Robert Conway & Sylvain Grenier) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On December 15, 2006, Spears & Runnels defeated Deuce & Domino in a Street Fight to regain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles, just 9 days after losing them
– On January 3, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated Charles Evans & Justin LaRoche to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– One week later, Spears & Runnels defeated High Dosage (Jon Bolen & Ryan Reeves) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On February 28, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated The Frat Pack (Mike Mondo & Nick Nemeth) to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On March 14, 2007, Spears & Runnels defeated Charles Evans & Justin LaRoche to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– 3 days later, Spears defeated Boris Alexiev to win the OVW Television Title
– On March 28, 2007, Spears defeated Tommaso to retain the OVW Television Title
– On May 16, 2007, Spears defeated Steve Lewington to retain the OVW Television Title
– On June 15, 2007, Spears defeated Mike Mondo to retain the OVW Television Title
– On July 13, 2007, Spears defeated Cody Runnels to regain the OVW Television Title, just a week after losing it in a Cage Match
– At the OVW Six Flags Summer Sizzler, Spears unsuccessfully challenged John Cena for the WWE Title
– On August 3, 2007, Spears defeated Steve Lewington to retain the OVW Television Title
– Over the next month, Spears would retain the title against Colt Cabana, Seth Skyfire and Steve Lewington
– On September 2, 2007, Spears made another appearance on Heat, losing to Super Crazy
– On September 12, 2007, Spears defeated Colt Cabana in a No-DQ Match to retain the OVW Television Title
– On October 24, 2007, Spears defeated Ted McNaler to regain the OVW Television Title, but lost it a week later to Colt Cabana
– On November 7, 2007, Spears & Cabana won the OVW Tag Team Title Tournament, defeating Paul Burchill & Stu Sanders in the final
– One week later, Spears & Cabana defeated Pat Buck & Ryan Reeves to retain the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
– On February 27, 2008, Cabana defeated Spears in a Career vs Career Match. This result served as a kayfabe way to relocate Spears to WWE’s new developmental territory, FCW
– On August 17, 2008, Spears & Nic Nemeth defeated Eddie Colon & Eric Perez to win the FCW Tag Team Titles
-Two days later, Arniel (as Gavin Spears) made his first of what would become semi-regular appearances on ECW programming
– On August 28, 2008, Spears & Nemeth defeated Eric Perez & Primo Colon to retain the FCW Tag Team Titles
– On September 2, 2008, Spears & Nemeth defeated Heath Miller & Joe Hennig to retain the FCW Tag Team Titles
– On January 19, 2009, Arniel was released from his WWE contract and he returned to the indies as Shawn Spears
– On May 12, 2009, Spears entered the ACW King of Florida Tournament, losing to Nooie Lee in the final
– On June 12, 2009, Spears made his ROH debut, defeating Alex Payne
– On August 4, 2009, Spears defeated Nooie Lee to win the ACW Heavyweight Title
– On August 15, 2009, Spears & Idol Stevens defeated Thunder & Lightning to win the WWC Tag Team Titles
– On March 9, 2010, Spears defeated Alex Decay & Titan in a 3-Way Match to win the ACW Combat Title
– One week later, Spears defeated Alex Decay & Titan in separate singles matches to retain the ACW Combat Title
– On June 3, 2010, Spears entered and won the ACW King of Florida Tournament, defeating Kennedy Kendrick in the final
– On August 4, 2010, Spears defeated Nooie Lee to win the ACW Heavyweight Title
– In February 2011, Spears embarked on a short tour of Japan with AJPW
– On June 28, 2011, NVUS (Spears & Kennedy Kendrick) defeated 1st Degree (D’Lo Jordan & GI Jamm) to win the FUW Tag Team Titles
– On July 30, 2011, NVUS defeated The James Boys (Luke & Rich) to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– The next day, NVUS defeated The James Boys (Luke & Rich) and The Worlds Largest All Knighters (Joey Knight & Shooter Storm) in a Triple Threat Match to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– One week later, NVUS defeated The Nuyoricanz (Carlos Rivera & D. Ramos) to retain the FUW Tag Team Titles
– On September 8, 2011, Spears fought PWA Pure Wrestling Champion Reggie Marley to a draw
– On February 19, 2012, Spears defeated Anthony Darko to win the TCW Heavyweight Title
– On March 25, 2012, Spears defeated Anthony Darko in a rematch to retain the TCW Heavyweight Title
– On December 8, 2012, Spears (subbing for Tony Carbonie) & Primo Scordino defeated The Piss Beaters (Anthony Darko & Jake O’Reilly) to retain the NWF Tag Team Titles
– On September 15, 2013, Arniel re-signed with WWE and was given the ring name Tye Dillinger
– On October 3, 2013, Dillinger made his NXT debut, losing to Leo Kruger
– In November 2013, Dillinger formed a tag team with Jason Jordan
– In late 2014, Jordan & Dillinger became part of the new Shoot Nation stable
– In February 2015, Jordan turned on Dillinger, splitting the team
– In mid-2015, Dillinger debuted a new gimmick, ‘The Perfect 10’
– In a dark match prior to NXT Takeover Brooklyn II, Dillinger defeated Wesley Blake
– After Wrestlemania 33, Dillinger was moved to the Smackdown roster
– On the Backlash ’17 pre-show, Dillinger defeated Aiden English
– On the Fastlane ’18 pre-show, Dillinger & Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) defeated Mojo Rawley, Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
– In February 2019, Dillinger was granted his WWE release having not appeared on television since the previous September
– In May 2019, it was announced that Arniell (wrestling as ‘Shawn Spears’ again) would be making his first independent appearance at the upcoming AEW Double or Nothing event
– In June 2019, Spears confirmed that he had signed a full-time deal with AEW
– On June 22, 2019, Spears defeated Shaun Moore to win the PWA Commonwealth Title
– At Fight For The Fallen, Spears, MJF & Sammy Guevara defeated Jimmy Havoc, Joey Janela & Darby Allin
– On September 28, Spears defeated Shaun Moore to retain the PWA Commonwealth Title
– At Full Gear 2019, Spears defeated Joey Janela
– In early 2021, Spears joined MJF’s ‘The Pinnacle’ stable
– At Blood & Guts 2021, The Pinnacle (Spears, MJF, Wardlow, Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) defeated The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana & Ortiz) in the titular match
– Spears was absent for much of the latter half of 2022 in order to support his pregnant wife
– On May 20, 2023, Spears defeated Tyler Tirva to win the vacant NEO Grand Independent Title