On a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray spoke about what All Elite Wrestling has done to develop its crop of new talent into stars, highlighting Shawn Spears’ heel turn.

“One chair shot, all of a sudden Shawn Spears is on the tip of our tongues, right?” he said. “What do I always say is the most important? The follow-up. What was the follow-up with Spears? It was [the interview with] J.R. Tully [Blanchard] was the icing on the cake. The physicality with the chair shot gets everyone talking about Spears.”

“That, my friends, is called the rub. He got the rub by being in there with Cody, because Cody is the Dusty of AEW. He got the rub from J.R. because sitting down with J.R. in a one-on-one interview is prestigious,” he explained.

“If J.R. is giving you that time—and if you notice, J.R. laid out a lot. He didn’t really challenge Shawn Spears, he took him at face value. Then at the end, just when you thought it was all over, wham, Tully freakin’ Blanchard. How do you not look at Shawn Spears as a star right now?”

Shawn Spears (formerly known as WWE’s Tye Dillinger) is scheduled to face off against Cody at AEW’s All Out event on August 31st.