Tye Dillinger Ronnie William Arneill ( February 19 , 1981 ) is a Canadian professional wrestler , better known by his ring name as Shawn Spears . He is currently contracted to World Wrestling Entertainment as Tye Dillinger . Early life . Born and raised in St . Catharines , Ontario , Arneill attended Laura Secord Secondary School . He played hockey for over ten years until he decided to leave the sport and enter professional wrestling . During his childhood , he was a fan of Rick Rude , Rick Martel , and Mr . Perfect . Professional wrestling career . Arniell trained with Eric Young at the WrestlePlex school before receiving further training from Derek Wylde and Cody Deaner . 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 . He was signed to a developmental contract by WWE following the tryout , on January 21 , 2006 . World Wrestling Entertainment ( 2006 – 2009 ) . Ohio Valley Wrestling . 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 . Spears ' greediness peaked after the team lost the Tag Team Title , leaving Spears with only the Television Title . 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 TV 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 . After OVW split with WWE , Spears debuted in WWE ' s new development territory Florida Championship Wrestling and teamed up with Nic Nemeth to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares for the Florida Tag Team Championship on August 16 . Nearly a month later , Nemeth and Spears lost the title to Joe Hennig and Heath Miller on September 11 . ECW and departure . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . On May 28 and 29 , Arneill made appearances at the 2010 Anime North convention . Return to WWE ( 2013 ) . On September 15 , 2013 it was reported that Spears had re - signed with WWE . NXT ( 2013 - present ) . Arneill returned to WWE , working in matches on NXT , under a new ring name of Tye Dillinger . On November 6 , Dillinger lost to Mojo Rawley . During the February 2 edition of NXT , Dillinger lost to CJ Parker . The following month on March 27 , Dillinger first teamed with Jason Jordan in a dark match against the New Age Outlaws , but they lost . The pair united again the following month , this time winning an April 17 match against Baron Corbin & Sawyer Fulton . The team of Dillinger and Jordan won another victory June 5 against Phillip Gooljar & Stewart Cumberland . On the Feb 25 taping ' s , Dillinger ' s partnership with Jordan ended after Dillinger refused to tag in and Jordan walked out in disgust . Afterward ' s , Dillinger was mainly used as enhancement talent until being re - packed with the " Perfect 10 " gimmick , which would not be seen televised until the August 12 taping ' s where defeated Solomon Crowe . He then faced Apollo Crows at NXT TakeOver Brooklyn , as the latter ' s first opponent in his debut match , where he was defeated