AEW star Shawn Spears recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast. The former Tye Dillinger discussed a number of topics from his career, including his recent feud with Cody Rhodes and ‘being a fan’ in attendance for the shows filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So the idea was Tony’s [Khan] actually the night before television” Shawn Spears revealed, discussing how he and MJF were asked to be ‘fans’ for the shows. “He called me and we talked for about 20 minutes. He [Tony Khan] said ‘I have this idea, I want to put you and MJF in the crowd. And I kind of just want to give you guys free rein to go out and do what you guys want to do.”

“I thought that was a hilarious concept” Spears would then reveal. “And you pretty much can’t ask for a better charismatic dance partner than MJF. So when they kind of put us out there? They just said, ‘yeah, do whatever you want, have some fun.’ I’m like well, can I eat food while I’m out there? I’ll be hungry. They’re like ‘yeah go ahead and MJF’s like ‘can I have a glass of wine?’ That was a bad idea, well for him cause he’s a lightweight.”

Shawn Spears would then discuss the importance of being given that time to showcase his character on AEW television. “I tell this to some young talent, being out there as an audience member is an opportunity in itself. You might not get that television time in the ring, performing, or you might not get that promo time backstage in a segment, or live mic in the ring.”

Spears elaborated further, saying “that in itself? Being an audience member is an opportunity, the camera is going to catch you. I said it recently to a few other talents. I said, we’re out in the crowd I think was a couple weeks ago I said ‘I dare you to steal the camera from me, I dare you. If you can do it? Then I’m not doing a good job, and I think that’s when I tailgated on the back of a golf cart. So it’s just finding different ways to stand out, show some personality without taking away from the actual in-ring product.”