WWE: More on Shawn Spears’ WWE Return, NXT Creative Writer Departs from WWE, More News

Feb 28, 2024

More on Shawn Spears WWE Return at Tuesday’s NXT Show

Tuesday’s NXT show featured former AEW talent Shawn Spears making his surprise return to WWE. In an interesting note, Spears was referred to by his AEW and indies ring name and not his prior WWE ring name of Tye Dillinger for his return on the show.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan reported that his sources stated that few people within NXT were aware beforehand of WWE’s plans for Spears’ return to the company with one NXT talent spoken to stating that it was a “complete shock.” Spears reportedly was not listed in internal plans for this week’s show and NXT head booker Shawn Michaels had served in Spears’ spots for the rehearsals prior to Tuesday’s show.

In regards to Spears’ signing, Brennan reported that Spears had been signed to a deal for some time and well before the vignettes for his return began airing on NXT programming. Spears reportedly was kept hidden backstage during Tuesday’s show until it was time for his appearance and he was well received by those backstage when he returned back.

Those spoken to within AEW reportedly stated that Spears had been let out of his contract early with the company.

NXT Creative Writer Nick Bonanno Departs from WWE

WWE NXT creative writer Nick Bonanno reportedly recently departed from the company, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Bonanno had officially departed from WWE following their last set of television tapings.

Besides working as a writer for WWE’s NXT Creative team, Bonanno reportedly had also worked as a producer for the brand.

Prior to his departure, Bonanno had been with WWE since April of 2022.

WWE News & Notes

WWE filed a trademark for “WWE World” on February 26th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque and NXT head booker Shawn Michaels announced on Twitter that they had an in-person meeting with The CW officials this past Monday.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE recently has been removing their songs from TikTok and likely as a sign that WWE’s current media rights deal with the service is expiring soon.

As noted before, Drew McIntyre’s contract with WWE is currently expected to expire some time beyond this April’s WrestleMania 40 event due to WWE officials had added injury and inactivity time to cover for time that McIntyre was away from the company. Mail Sports’ Alex McCarthy reported that his sources denied that the recent rumors of McIntyre signing a new contract being true. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources also confirmed that McIntyre has yet to sign a new deal with WWE.

As noted before, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson officially joined TKO Group’s Board of Directors this past January. As part of the terms of his deal, Johnson was granted full ownership rights of “The Rock” trademark. In a recent SEC filing by TKO on Tuesday, TKO revealed that Johnson also received full ownership of several of his iconic catchphrases, nicknames, and other wrestling-related terms. Among the IPs Johnson received included “Rocky Maivia”, “Roody Poo”, “Candy Ass”, “Jabroni”, “If you smell what The Rock is cooking”, “The Brahma Bull”, “The People’s Champion”, “The People’s Elbow”, and “Rockpocalypse.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently announced on Instagram that he will be making appearances for WWE at their March 8th SmackDown show in Dallas, Texas and their March 15th show in Memphis, Tennessee.

WWE recently announced that they will be holding a new tour of Mexico this July. It was also announced that this two-day tour will feature a SuperShow live event on July 13th in Mexico City and a SuperShow live event on May 13th in Monterrey.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that this past Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 event in Perth, Australia generated around 200,000 searches on Google for that day. Meltzer reported that this is a normal amount for a non-major WWE event and also an indication that the event only managed to generate the usual level of interest for a WWE event.

As noted before, Big E has been out of action for WWE since March of 2022 due to a broken neck injury. In a recent interview with WhatCulture Wrestling, Big E stated that he had told Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston that they could find a third member for New Day to fill in for him if they wanted to do it but they turned down his offer. Big E stated “Yeah, yeah, it’s a long time (that New Day’s been in WWE). We are old, our hairlines don’t look the same (he laughed). But yeah, it’s been quite the journey and we thought — for like a year or so, we’ve been kind of eyeing the 10 years and it’s not the same. I’m not around and I told those guys too, as long as I’m out, please don’t feel like you’re beholden to me. My voice comes on at the beginning of the song every time and I’m not around and I don’t know if that’s fair to those guys and hey, if you need a fill-in with a third, feel free to but, they’re always so adamant about like, ‘Nah, nah, nah. This is the group’ and I appreciate them dearly for that.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

Tuesday’s NXT show featured Charlie Dempsey defeating Noam Dar to become the new NXT Heritage Cup Champion. Following the show, WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with No Quarter Catch Crew about their thoughts about Dempsey’s Heritage Cup title victory. Dempsey stated “This cup right here means more than any world title here. Ever since I signed to WWE three years ago as part of NXT UK, I’ve had my eyes on this Cup. I finally did. I’m finally the Heritage Cup Champion. Three years in the making, and I’ve got it.” Drew Gulak responded stating “Charlie, I’ve known you about eight years now. I met you before I even started working here at WWE. I’ve seen you go from behind the scenes to not having a foot in the door, to becoming one of the most dominant professional wrestlers I’ve ever experienced in my career. I am so proud of you. I know these boys are proud of you too. I’m proud of each one of you guys. I came here a year ago, looking to assemble a team of like-minded individuals. Strength in numbers. Now we’re here. With the Catch Clause, we made that happen. You make that happen. Each one of us. We’ll show no mercy. We’ll show no pity. We’ll show no quarter.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)