10! 10! 10! 10 Things You Didn't Know About Tye Dillinger
8. He Was Trained By Eric Young
Though it took Eric Young even longer to break into the WWE system than Dillinger himself, Tye credits 'EY' with giving him the fundamentals to make his way in the industry.
Training under Young at the WrestlePlex school in Ontario when first breaking into the wrestling business in 2002, Dillinger took on the name 'Shawn Spears' for the first time and began plying his trade throughout Canada and North America.
Within three years, he'd catch WWE's attention in the aforementioned Sunday Night Heat dark match before eventually signing a developmental deal with them in 2006.
Young became a talismanic figure in TNA thanks to his extended tenure with the group, lasting 12 years with the organisation before joining NXT in 2016.
Their careers came full circle on Royal Rumble weekend earlier this year, as Young would wrestle his first NXT TakeOver match the same weekend Dillinger would make a main roster mini-debut in the 30-man match.