WWE rejected a former AEW star's pitch to return at Royal Rumble 

A former All Elite Wrestling star has revealed that he wanted to return to WWE during the Royal Rumble match, but his pitch was rejected. Shawn Spears ended up returning on an episode of NXT.

During his run in the Stamford-based company, the 43-year-old wrestler was known as Tye Dillinger. His nickname was the Perfect 10, and his most memorable moment was entering the 2017 Royal Rumble match as the 10th entrant, where he got a big pop. During his time in AEW, he was known as The Chairman and portrayed a heel character for the majority of his run.

Shawn Spears told Fightful Select that he pitched to make his WWE return during this year's Men's Royal Rumble match, where he would be the surprise 10th entrant. Spears admitted that he did "shoot his shot," but his creative pitch was rejected because it was already too late, as the company had already finalized the plans for the match. The star eventually made his return on the February 27 episode of NXT.

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EC3 shared his thoughts on Shawn Spears returning to WWE NXT

The Chairman is currently involved in a feud with Ridge Holland. The two stars collided on NXT last week, which was won by the former.

Speaking on Sportskeeda's Wrestling Outlaws, EC3 commented on Shawn Spears returning to NXT by stating:

"Fantastic wrestler. He's a good trainer, you know. He's what they would call a good brother. Do they kind of bring him back into that, like he's still prime shape and excellent, see, in that sort of player/coach role, too? To kind of like, NXT does need people that can bring greener new talent... So maybe he's kind of there to kind of facilitate that. Be a gatekeeper, so to speak," said EC3.

It'll be interesting to see how things pan out for Shawn Spears during his second run in WWE.