Shawn Spears calls WWE NXT his ‘last stop’

Shawn Spears says he is at the “last stop” of his career.

The 44-year-old returned to WWE in February 2024 and, a little over a year later, is now the NXT North American Champion, having defeated Tony D’Angelo for the title on last week’s episode.

Spears recently told Gabby AF that he plans to keep going as long as he can:

“Right now, I feel good. I’m still moving, and I feel like I can still keep up with the younger kids. I can still hang, but as long as it doesn’t disrupt any plans I have in the future with my kids, I’ll do it as long as I can. The beautiful thing is that even when I step back from on-screen performing as a professional wrestler, I’m still going to have the school, I’m still going to teach, and I’m still going to be actively in there because I believe the best way to learn is by hands-on teaching. That’s the way I was taught by Eric Young, and that’s the way I teach my kids now at the Performance Center and (his Flatbacks Wrestling school). So I’ll always be a hands-on coach, and the day that I can’t be, then it’s probably time to pack it in.” 

“I’m not going anywhere. This is the last stop,” Spears continued.

When asked, Spears said he doesn’t believe a call-up to the main roster is in his future and he’s fine with that.

“It’s (WWE’s) call, but right now I’m very fulfilled, I’m very happy with where I am. I’m very happy with what I’m doing. I love this. The awesome thing for me is that everybody on the main roster right now, everybody in those top spots, I came up with to some degree—I’ve wrestled them somewhere.”

In addition to his work in NXT, Spears runs the Flatbacks Wrestling School in Florida with Tyler Breeze.

Spears first signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2006 and wrestled for Ohio Valley Wrestling and the revived version of ECW until being released in January 2009. He rejoined the company in 2013 and remained there until requesting and being granted his release in February 2019. He made his AEW debut that May at the company’s inaugural show, Double or Nothing 2019. His contract with the company expired on January 1, 2024, and he returned to NXT the following month.

During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Spears said you would never hear him speak poorly of Tony Khan and that he was fortunate to have worked in AEW.

“My time there was special, getting to work with all the top guys based on a lot of storylines that I was in with [MJF] and FTR and things like that. So a lot of things that I would have never gotten to do, I think in my career, I was very fortunate enough to do there,” Spears said.