AEW's Thunder Rosa Said This WWE NXT Star's Segment Was Like A Soap Opera

Thunder Rosa was enthralled by this week's "WWE NXT," especially the meeting between Shawn Spears and WWE NXT North American Champion Tony D'Angelo.

"I was watching [Shawn Spears on 'WWE NXT'] and it was, like, 'I am watching a soap opera right now,' the acting was really, really good," Rosa gushed on "Busted Open Radio" recently. 

Rosa feels Spears took fans on a fun ride during his conversation with D'Angelo, which ended with Spears heading to the parking lot and into a car, where new "NXT" recruit Niko Vance was seated in the driver's seat.

"If you don't know what's going on? It was just perfect because you can see the characters and then [he reveals Niko Vance]. It was just a really good 45 [seconds] to minute-fifteen," said Rosa.

Rosa and Spears crossed paths during the latter's tenure in AEW. Spears joined AEW in 2019, where he was a semi-regular presence on television before leaving the promotion in 2023. He returned to "NXT" where he used to be known as Tye Dillinger in 2024, initially feuding with Ridge Holland before taking Brooks Jensen under his wing after Jensen's kayfabe mental health crisis.

Spears recently said that he was grateful that WWE had let him return to the company under his AEW ring name, despite his lengthy tenure in WWE as Tye Dillinger. The Dillinger name was based on the legendary bank robber John Dillinger. WWE also let him keep his chair-based persona "The Chairman," though so far not to the brutal lengths Spears went to during his AEW time.