Shawn Spears survived probably the most recent wave of talent cuts made in WWE, but a few of his recent comments have rubbed fans the incorrect way.
In April 2026, WWE cut several talents from NXT and the major roster including Kairi Sane, The Wyatt Sicks, Aleister Black, and Zelina Vega.
When a fan on Twitter mocked Spears after he appeared on WWE Primary Event, Spears fired back, declaring that his bank balance isn’t complaining.
This earned a series of responses from fans, who took issue with Spears for seemingly bragging at a time when others are losing their jobs.
Some fans suggested that Spears might be among the many list of talent cut on account of ‘budget cuts’ sooner or later, which is able to make his post somewhat ironic. They wrote,
“You’re employed for a corporation cutting top talent’s salary in half if you are a midcarder of their developmental brand. There’s no shot you’re making greater than you probably did in AEW.”
“Oh s***, we’re gonna see this tweet a lot throughout the next round of cuts. You would have avoided this.”
“Until you might be a part of budget cuts next month.”
“Until TKO finds out they haven’t “renegotiated” your contract yet.”
“ if a wrestler has time to reply on to a tweet they ain’t really doing much of nothing lol.”
“I give him two more months until the subsequent pay cut.”
“Wish to see you tweet this during your inevitable release over “budget cuts”.”
“Bro just inadvertently told us he’s the subsequent round of budget cuts happening 🤣 thanks Shawn you may’ve just said nothing!”
Spears, who recently celebrated 24 years in wrestling, returned to WWE in February 2024 after being granted his release in February 2019.
During his time away, Spears competed in AEW but didn’t capture any gold during his five years with Tony Khan’s promotion.