The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won division titles in all four seasons and ArenaCups in 2006 and 2009 before they joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in its 2010 relaunch.

On July 12, 2017, owner Nader Naini announced that the Empire would cease operations, citing financial issues.

The Shock put together a significant inaugural season, posting a 14–2 regular-season record and a first-place finish in the National Conference Western Division.

During the af2 playoffs, the Shock defeated the Bakersfield Blitz and the Arkansas Twisters en route to winning the af2 National Conference championship and a berth in ArenaCup VII against the Green Bay Blizzard in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On September 4, 2006, Spokane head coach Chris Siegfried accepted the offensive coordinator position for the AFL's Kansas City Brigade.

[8] On September 20, 2006, the Spokane Shock announced that former Louisville Fire offensive coordinator Adam Shackleford would become their new head coach.

It was the only Shock loss during the regular season, qualifying for the playoffs and clinching home field advantage until the ArenaCup.

The team continued their success in the relaunched league, finishing the regular season with a 16–3 record claiming the first seed in the playoffs.

In front of a franchise record crowd of 11,017, the Shock defeated the Storm 69–57 behind nine touchdown passes from Kyle Rowley.

The Shock promoted offensive coordinator, Andy Olson to head coach for 2012 and improved to 10–8, but failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the team's existence.

In January 2014, it was announced that Brady Nelson had sold the Shock to Arena Football Partners, LLC., an ownership group led by Nader Naini.

[13] Beginning on August 10, 2015, talk began surfacing about a possible move to the Indoor Football League by Shock owner Nader Naini, who was heavily involved with bringing Scott Butera to the AFL as its new commissioner.

[18] However, the team retained the Shock's history and went by a new name for the 2016 season,[1] and a name-the-team contest had the franchise become known as the Spokane Empire.

On July 12, 2017, owner Nader Naini announced that the Empire had ceased operations, citing financial issues.

[19] Adams stated the Shock would still play games in 2020 against any other team regardless of schedule once the government allowed venues to re-open,[20] which did not come to fruition.

[22] On February 15, 2022, it was reported that Adams and the Shock had not signed lease with the arena for the 2022 season set to start in March.

[26] On February 24, 2022, Adams was ordered to pay two former employees of his Shock franchise $9,342.18 in unpaid wages as well as former assistant general manager (and former AFL Shock player) Patrick Afif in two separate Washington State Department of Labor and Industries legal cases against him.

Spokane Shock arena football attendance records show the largest crowds: 10,662 vs. Tennessee Valley (Arena Cup 9 - August 25, 2008); 10,659 twice during 2008 regular season, and smallest crowds: 7,267 vs. Stockton 2009 playoffs (August 1, 2009); 9,387 vs. Stockton on March 30, 2006 (inaugural game).

Daytime temperatures reached over 90 °F (50 °C) that day, and game time was pushed back to 6:00 PM PDT as a result.