Shawn Spears on Wrestling John Cena in the Pouring Rain in OVW

– Speaking to Colt Cabana for his Art of Wrestling show at Starrcast VI, AEW’s Shawn Spears discussed wrestling John Cena in OVW in 2007. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Shawn Spears at facing John Cena at OVW’s Six Flags Summer Sizzler Series: “It was the most stressful, ridiculous, perfect storm of what could possibly go wrong. Kentucky Kingdom is an outdoor show. It’s a nice stadium, holds 83,000 people. We had an eight-match card, but because there was a severe rainstorm…I think Jerry Lawler was on the show, but me and John would go last. There was a crazy downpour and the matches went from eight to three. John wasn’t there yet. The good saving grace was that Cody [Cody Rhodes] talked to John beforehand. John asked him, ‘Who is this guy, what’s he all about?’ Cody said some good things. When I ran into John, he said, ‘Cody said some good things about you, we’ll be good, we’ll do this, this, and this,’ and then he walked off. ‘Okay.'”

On wrestling John Cena in the pouring rain: We went out there, it’s pouring rain, I went out first, he comes out on a hummer with soldiers walking beside him and the place was deafening. It was crazy. If you’ve ever been in a wrestling ring when it’s been wet, I’m assuming most haven’t, but it’s like ice. When people sweat, people slip, and someone can get really hurt. The fear was, if this guy goes down, it’s on my watch. They’re going to look at me. To his credit, he is one of the absolute professional athletes on this planet. A lot of people will give John slack about his wrestling ability, say whatever you want about his wrestling ability, he is one of the greatest workers, and there is a difference between working and wrestling, he’s one of the greatest workers of all time.”