Shawn Spears believes there was more meat on the "Perfect 10" bone.
Shawn Spears, known to WWE fans as Tye Dillinger, became a cult hero in NXT with his "Perfect 10" gimmick. Spears was never thought to be "a main roster superstar," but the gimmick got over so much with the NXT audience that WWE had no choice but to move him to the main roster. Unfortunately, the gimmick failed to gain traction on the main roster, leading to frustrations and Spears eventually asking for his release.
Appearing on the Edge & Christian Pod of Awesomeness, Spears vented over WWE not doing enough with the gimmick.
"I was curious as to how much they could have got out of the Perfect 10 character with the momentum and popularity. When something like that catches, the business side of things, you want to milk it for all its worth and then it moves aside. I don't feel like we capitalized on the entire thing," lamented Spears. "The story of being here, being gone, coming back, transforming and having something people can grab on to and then paying it off would have been a fine way to do that. I pitched the idea to win a title at a TakeOver and then lose immediately at a TV taping. It wasn't about the title, it was about the journey. I was in a program with Bobby Roode and he was the champion at the time. I think we had a feel-good story that we missed taking advantage of. That soured me up."
Spears continued, revealing he talked with Triple H prior to asking for his release, hoping to get answers on why things weren't working for him on the main roster.
"I had a talk with Hunter abut 7 weeks before I made my announcement to leave and I asked him some personal questions. To his credit, he answered them. Sometimes, it doesn't happen the way you hope it will happen or the way it seems like it might happen. In this industry that is ever changing and ever evolving and has so much talent and limited time and space on television, sometimes good things can fall through the cracks. That's just something you have to be aware of when you sign up for this."
Spears was released from the company in February. Earlier this week, it was announced that he would be part of the Casino Battle Royale at Saturday's AEW Double or Nothing.
Elsewhere during the interview, Spears explained how he came up with the "Perfect 10" gimmick. You can view his comments by clicking here.
