Shawn Spears Receives Bret "Hitman" Hart's Permission To Use The Sharpshooter On AEW: Dynamite

In early 2020, Shawn Spears was on somewhat of a downward spiral in AEW. He never featured on Dynamite and was on a losing streak on Dark as he would be paired with different partners to lose to established tag teams like SCU, Private Party, and Best Friends. This all changed in the past month as since returning to Dynamite on March 26, The Chairman of AEW has won five of his last six matches.

On last night's episode of Dynamite, The Reaper picked up the win against local talent Baron Black. The manner in which Spears won the match surprised many and even shocked Chris Jericho who was on commentary. Shawn has been using the C4 to defeat opponents for a number of years, and he again connected with the finisher last night. However, as Black lay prone, Spears didn't go for the cover but instead locked in the Sharpshooter, forcing his opponent to tap out in a matter of seconds.

The finish quickly caused a debate online as some were happy to see a fellow Canadian use the move popularised by Bret Hart while others didn't think he should be using it.

Ultimately, Spears revealed he has The Hitman's permission to use the Sharpshooter going forward, so we can expect to see The Chairman submit opponents for a long time to come.

Spears tweeted: "For those commenting: A while back, I sent a text to @BretHart asking a question. He told me: “Go for it, it works” Tonight as @IAmJericho mentioned, I paid tribute to a Canadian ICON by winning via the #Sharpshooter It just makes sense. Mine now. #LoveYouBret @AEWrestling"