Tye Dillinger

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Tye Dillinger
ShawnSpearsSpeaks cropped.jpg
Arneill in 2012
Birth name Ronnie William Arneill
Born (1981-02-19) February 19, 1981 (age 43)[1]
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Gavin Spears[1]
Tye Dillinger
Shawn Spears
Stan
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Billed weight 235 lb (107 kg)[2]
Billed from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada[1]
Trained by Eric Young[3]
Derek Wylde[3]
Cody Deaner[3]
Debut 2001[4]

Ronnie William Arneill[1][3] (born February 19, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler, currently contracted to WWE under the ring name Tye Dillinger. Previously, Arneill worked in the independent circuit as Shawn Spears. Also, he worked with WWE between 2006 and 2008 as Gavin Spears.

Early life

Born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Arneill attended Laura Secord Secondary School.[2] He played hockey for over ten years until he decided to leave the sport and enter professional wrestling.[5] During his childhood, he was a fan of Rick Rude, Rick Martel, and Mr. Perfect.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2002–2006)

Arniell trained with Eric Young at the WrestlePlex school before receiving further training from Derek Wylde and Cody Deaner.[3] Upon wrestling his debut match in March 2002 as Shawn Spears, he began wrestling for some of the biggest independent wrestling promotions throughout Ontario and the United States, including Border City Wrestling, World Xtreme Wrestling, and Blood Sweat and Ears. In February 2005, Arneill made an appearance on an edition of WWE Heat in a tag team match against Rosey and The Hurricane.

After sending a tape to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) officials, Arneill was called for a try-out in Buffalo, New York.[3] He was signed to a developmental contract by WWE following the tryout, on January 21, 2006.[3]

WWE

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006–2007)

After signing his WWE contract, Arneill was assigned to the company's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He made his OVW television debut as "The Canadian Sensation" Shawn Spears, where he defeated then-SmackDown! superstar Simon Dean. After his victory, Dean attacked Spears until Spears was saved by Al Snow, who fended off Dean with a chair. After his debut, Spears quickly made an impact in OVW with a short undefeated streak that was soon ended by Aaron "The Idol" Stevens when Stevens made Spears submit. After this, Spears formed a tag team with Cody Runnels and they feuded with The Throwbacks for the Southern Tag Team Championship. On December 15, 2006, Spears and Runnels won the title from The Throwbacks.

On March 17, 2007, Spears won the Television Championship from Boris Alexiev, his first singles title in OVW. Soon after winning the title, he became more focused on championships and even began trying to steal Runnels' Heavyweight Championship opportunity. During Runnels' Heavyweight Title match, Spears interfered and performed a piledriver to Runnels, preventing him from winning the Heavyweight Championship and thus solidifying his heel turn. Spears then began feuding with Runnels and eventually lost the Television Championship to him on July 6, 2007 before winning it back one week later. He once again lost the title on September 19 to the debuting Ted "Manbeast" McNailer. Spears later regained the Television Title, only to lose it to Colt Cabana. Spears then began feuding with Cabana and the pair would go on to win the vacant Tag Team Title with on November 7 after defeating Paul Burchill and Stu Sanders. On December 19, Cabana and Spears' feud culminated in a ladder match in which the winner would claim the Tag Team titles for themselves and choose a new partner. Spears lost to Cabana, who then chose Charles "The Hammer" Evans as his new tag team partner.

Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2008)

After OVW split with WWE, Spears debuted in WWE's new development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and teamed up with Nic Nemeth to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares for the Florida Tag Team Championship on August 17.[6] Nearly a month later, Nemeth and Spears lost the title to Joe Hennig and Heath Miller on September 11.[6]

ECW (2008–2009)

Spears in 2011

On the August 19 episode of ECW, Spears made his WWE television debut as a heel under the name Gavin Spears as part of Theodore Long's "New Superstar Initiative" in a losing effort to Ricky Ortiz.[1] After his ECW debut, Spears began splitting time between ECW and FCW. On the September 2 edition of ECW, Spears was defeated by Super Crazy.[1] After a three-month absence due to competing in FCW, Spears returned to television on the December 16 episode of ECW, where he lost to Finlay in what turned out to be his final match for the company. On January 19, 2009, Arneill was released from his contract.[1]

Independent circuit (2009–2013)

The day before he had been released from WWE, Arneill had broken his hand, and was unable to wrestle for 12 weeks following his release as a result.[3] On May 27, 2009, Spears wrestled and lost to fellow WWE alumnus Elijah Burke in a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at their Impact! television tapings.[7] On June 12, Arneill wrestled at a Ring of Honor show, where he defeated Alex Payne. On August 15, he teamed up with Idol Stevens to capture the WWC World Tag Team Championship after defeating Thunder and Lighting. On October 31, Spears and Stevens lost the World Tag Team Title back to Thunder and Lightning.

On May 16, 2010, Arneill, under his Gavin Spears ring name, teamed up with El Hijo de L.A. Park in a losing effort to Dr. Wagner III and Gigante Extassis on an Extreme Air Wrestle show in Mexico, marking his first tour of Mexico.[8] On May 28 and 29, Arneill made appearances at the 2010 Anime North convention.[9]

Return to WWE

NXT (2013–present)

On September 15, 2013 it was reported that Spears had re-signed with WWE, and he was assigned to WWE's developmental system NXT under the new ring name Tye Dillinger.[10] He made his televised NXT debut in a losing effort against Mojo Rawley.[11] On the January 9, 2014 episode NXT, Dillinger wrestled CJ Parker in a losing effort. Dillinger then formed a tag-team with Jason Jordan, with the two described as a pair of blue chip athletes. The team of Dillinger and Jordan got their first televised win on the April 17 episode of NXT, defeating Baron Corbin and Sawyer Fulton. On the June 5 episode of NXT, Dillinger and Jordan defeated two uncontracted jobbers. On the August 7 episode of NXT, Dillinger and Jordan lost in the first round of a NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. Dillinger and Jordan then appeared infrequently together, with Dillinger mostly being used as enhancement talent. Dillinger's partnership with Jordan officially ended on the February 25 episode of NXT when Jason, unhappy with his partner not initially tagging him in, jumped off the apron and walked out on Tye just as he went to make the tag.[12] After the match, an enraged Dillinger called out his old partner but instead was met with a quick loss to Baron Corbin.[12] On the April 22 episode of NXT, Dillinger faced Finn Bálor in a losing effort. On the August 12, 2015 episode of NXT, Dillinger debuted a new gimmick as the "Perfect 10" and defeated Solomon Crowe. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Dillinger faced the debuting Apollo Crews in a losing effort.

In wrestling

Spears performing his running Death Valley driver
Spears performing a belly to back suplex in December 2011
  • Entrance themes
    • "20/20" (Instrumental Version) by Chris Goulstone (FCW; 2007 - 2009)
    • "Hollow Tip in the Clip" by Rudiment The Producer (NXT; 2014 - 2015)
    • "City Invasion" by Kosinus (NXT; 2015)
    • "Ten" by CFO$ (NXT; 2015 - present)

Championships and accomplishments

Shawn Spears in December 2007
  • Adrenaline Live Wrestling
    • ALW Georgian Bay Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[1]
  • American Combat Wrestling
    • ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[13]
  • Canadian Independent Wrestling Alliance
    • CIWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[1]
  • Florida Underground Wrestling
    • FUW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kenny Kendrick[15]
  • Ground Breaking Pro Wrestling
    • GBPW Championship (1 time)[16]
  • Great Lakes Championship Wrestling
    • GLCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Flexx Falcone[1]
  • Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling
    • NSPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with J.T. Playa[1]
  • Pure Wrestling Association
    • PWA Pure Wrestling Championship (1 time)[1]
  • Tri-City Wrestling
    • TCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.impactwrestling.com/Content.aspx?ID=26755
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[unreliable source?]
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=65839
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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