Tye Dillinger

Tye Dillinger
Dillinger in 2012
Birth name Ronald William Arneill
Born (1981-02-19) February 19, 1981[1]
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Gavin Spears[1]
Shawn Spears
Tye Dillinger
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2]
Billed weight 223 lb (101 kg)[2]
Billed from Niagara Falls[2]
Trained by Cody Deaner[3]
Derek Wylde[3]
Eric Young[3]
Debut 2001[4]

Ronald William Arneill[1][3] (born February 19, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Tye Dillinger. Arneill previously worked in the independent circuit as Shawn Spears. He also 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.[5] He played hockey for over ten years until he decided to leave the sport and enter professional wrestling.[6] During his childhood, he was a fan of Rick Rude, Rick Martel, and Mr. Perfect.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2002–2006)

Arneill trained at the Hart Wrestling School in Cambridge Ontario with Smith Hart, Ike Shaw and Waldo Von Erich and then 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] He made a cameo appearance at Cyber Sunday as an employee called "Stan", who gets superkicked by Shawn Michaels of D-Generation X when Michaels is told that he doesn't understand the meaning of the word "controversial".[7]

World Wrestling Entertainment

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006–2008)

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 (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.[8] Nearly a month later, Nemeth and Spears lost the title to Joe Hennig and Heath Miller on September 11.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11] On May 28 and 29, Arneill made appearances at the 2010 Anime North convention.[12]

In 2013, Arneill wrestled at a Ring of Honor show on June 12, 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.

Return to WWE

NXT (2013–2017)

On September 15, 2013, it was reported that Spears had re-signed with WWE, and he was assigned to WWE's developmental territory NXT under the ring name Tye Dillinger.[13] He made his televised NXT debut in a losing effort against Mojo Rawley.[14] In early 2014, Dillinger 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 local competitors. 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. On the February 25, 2015 episode of NXT, Dillinger's partnership with Jordan officially ended when Jordan unhappy with his partner not initially tagging him in, jumped off the apron and walked out on Dillinger just as he went to make the tag.[15] After the match, an enraged Dillinger called out his old partner but instead was met with a quick loss to Baron Corbin.[15]

On the August 12 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. On the April 27, 2016 episode of NXT, he defeated Buddy Murphy. He faced the debuting Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: The End, where Dillinger was defeated, although he received praise for his performance.[16]

On the September 28 episode of NXT, after defeating Angelo Dawkins, Dillinger was approached by Bobby Roode, who proposed the two team up for the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which Dillinger accepted. The following week, Dillinger and Roode took on SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe and Sawyer Fulton). During the match, Roode walked out on Dillinger, resulting in the team losing in the first round. The following week on October 19, Dillinger called out Roode for a match at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, which Roode won. On the December 14 episode of NXT, Dillinger defeated Eric Young by disqualification in a #1 contender Fatal 4-Way qualifying match. At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Dillinger was defeated by Young following a distraction from Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain. At NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Dillinger teamed up with Roderick Strong, Kassius Ohno and Ruby Riot to take on SAnitY in an 8-person mixed tag team match in a losing effort. Dillinger made his last NXT appearance on the April 5 tapings, closing out the event by winning a Steel Cage match against Eric Young.

SmackDown Live (2017–present)

On January 29, 2017, at Royal Rumble, Dillinger was a surprise entrant in the Rumble match, entering at number 10 but was eliminated by Braun Strowman.[17] On the April 4 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger would make his main roster debut, defeating Curt Hawkins. Dillinger would enter a short feud with Aiden English, defeating him on various episodes of SmackDown Live, leading to a match at Backlash, where Dillinger once again defeated English.[18]

On the July 4 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger would compete in a Independence Day Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the United States Championship, lasting until the final three before being eliminated by Sami Zayn. On the August 29 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger would confront and brawl with Baron Corbin, who was about to answer an open challenge set by AJ Styles for the United States Championship. After Dillinger would fight off Corbin, he would take on Styles' challenge in a losing effort. On the September 12 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger would get another shot at the title against Styles, once again in a losing effort. After trading victories with Corbin on various episodes of SmackDown Live, both Dillinger and Corbin would challenge Styles for the United States Championship at Hell in a Cell in a triple threat match, where Corbin would win the title.[19] On the December 26 episode of SmackDown Live, Dillinger would compete in a United States Championship tournament, after former champion Dolph Ziggler vacated the title the week before, where Dillinger would be defeated by Jinder Mahal in the first round.[20]

At Royal Rumble, Dillinger was to be the number 10 entrant in the Men's Rumble match, but was attacked backstage by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, with Zayn taking his spot. At Fastlane, Dillinger would team with Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), defeating the team of Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin and Mojo Rawley.[21] At WrestleMania 34, Dillinger would compete in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by Matt Hardy. At Greatest Royal Rumble, Dillinger would enter at number 42, where he was eliminated by Braun Strowman. On the July 10 episode of Smackdown Live, Dillinger was scheduled to face Samoa Joe, however Joe attacked him after the match, this led to the next week Dillinger to challenge Joe in a lossing effort. At a WWE live event on August 13, Dillinger was seemingly injured in a match with Shelton Benjamin. The referee called for the end of the match, giving Benjamin the win via countout. Dillinger was promptly escorted backstage by officials.[22] Dillinger returned on the September 25 episode of Smackdown Live, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE United States Championship, however he was attacked during the match by Randy Orton.[23]

Personal life

Arneill is currently engaged to fellow SmackDown Live wrestler Cassie McIntosh, better known by her ring name of Peyton Royce.[24]

In July 2018, old jokes that Arneill had made about the subject of rape were rediscovered on his Twitter account and brought back into public attention. He later made a statement apologising for the jokes.[25]

Other media

Arneill appears in the video games WWE 2K17 (as downloadable content), WWE 2K18 and will appear in the upcoming WWE 2K19 as a playable character.[26][27][28]

Championship and accomplishments

Dillinger as Shawn Spears in December 2007

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "OWOW profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  2. 1 2 3 "Tye Dillinger bio". WWE. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kapur, Bob (November 3, 2010). "Spears not bitter about years in WWE developmental, brief TV time". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Cagematch profile".
  5. ↑ "Wrestler set to return home for match in Merritton". niagarathisweek.com. 2012-09-20. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  7. ↑ "Shawn Michaels superkicks everyone in his path to prove he is controversial: Cyber Sunday 2006" on YouTube
  8. 1 2 3 "Champions Roll Call". Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2011-02-19. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  9. ↑ "WWE ECW 08 19 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Page not found". Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  11. ↑ Boutwell, Jason (May 21, 2010). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Events - Super Anime Extreme Wrestling". www.gcwe.ca. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-05-13. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  13. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2013-09-15). "SUN UPDATE: Night of Champions preview, Mayweather fallout, surprising challenge, WSOF fight canceled last minute, Riddick Bowe pro wrestling debut and rips Konnan, Watson off UFC in UK, Big Total Divas episode, WWE name birthday". f4wonline.com. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  14. ↑ Gutteridge, Darren (2013-11-11). "Gutteridge's WWE NXT Review: Kassius Ohno main events against Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley vs. Tye Dillinger (a/k/a Gavin Spears), Alexander Rusev vs. Sylvester Lefort, and Leo Kruger vs. El Local". prowrestling.net. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  15. 1 2 Melok, Bobby (2015-02-25). "WWE NXT results - Feb. 25, 2015: Finn Bálor battles The Brian Kendrick, Kevin Owens attacks Alex Riley". wwe.com. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Caldwell, James. "6/8 "NXT Takeover" Results – CALDWELL'S Complete Live Report on "The End"". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  17. ↑ Dave Scherer (January 29, 2017). "AND YOUR ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER IS, GOLDBERG DOES IT TO BROCK AGAIN, AT 26 HERE COMES THE PAIN, BRAUN STROWMAN KICKS BUTT UNTIL THE NUMBERS GAME CATCHES HIM, NXT STAR DEBUTS AT NUMBER 10, NUMBER ONE AND TWO ARE THE RUMBLE ARE, JOHN CENA AND AJ STYLES DELIVER ANOTHER CLASSIC IN THE RING, NEVILLE AND SWANN DELIVER, REIGNS VS. OWENS KILL EACH OTHER, CHARLOTTE VS. BAYLEY WILL START THE NIGHT, SHAWN MICHAELS APPEARS - ONGOING ROYAL RUMBLE PPV BLOG!". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  18. ↑ http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0521/626405/wwe-backlash-live-results/
  19. ↑ "Hell in a Cell 2017 Results". WWE. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  20. ↑ SmackDown Live December 26, 2017 Results
  21. ↑ https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2018/3/11/17105558/wwe-fastlane-2018-results-live-streaming-match-coverage-six-pack-challenge-aj-styles-john-cena
  22. ↑ Lee, Joseph (August 13, 2018). "Tye Dillinger Suffers Possible Injury At Live Event". 411MANIA. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  23. ↑ Nemer, Roy (September 25, 2018). "WWE Smackdown Results - 9/25/18 (Contract Signing, Nakamura vs. Dillinger)". WrestleView. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  24. ↑ https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/5-wrestling-couples-who-have-remained-under-the-radar/4
  25. ↑ Jenkins, H. (August 1, 2018). "Tye Dillinger Addresses Recently Surfaced Offensive Tweets". Ringside News. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  26. ↑ "WWE 2K17: All the DLC Revealed". GameSpot. September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  27. ↑ "WWE 2K18: all 187 confirmed wrestlers profiled, including DLC (Hardy Boyz, Elias and more)". GamesRadar+. September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  28. ↑ "WWE 2K19 Roster Confirmed: All 200+ Superstars & Wrestlers, including DLC". GameSpot. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  29. ↑ "American Combat Wrestling news". Archived from the original on 2009-08-18.
  30. 1 2 Kreikenbohm, Philip. "FUW « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  31. ↑ "Ground Breaking Pro Wrestling history page". Archived from the original on 2010-09-12.
  32. 1 2 "OVW championship histories". Archived from the original on 2011-04-05.
  33. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  34. ↑ "WWC World Tag Team Championship history".
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