diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriter.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriter.java
index 995754901e09b..6bf4384173fff 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/shuffle/unsafe/UnsafeShuffleWriter.java
@@ -47,8 +47,7 @@
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.PlatformDependent;
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.memory.TaskMemoryManager;
 
-// IntelliJ gets confused and claims that this class should be abstract, but this actually compiles
-public class UnsafeShuffleWriter<K, V> implements ShuffleWriter<K, V> {
+public class UnsafeShuffleWriter<K, V> extends ShuffleWriter<K, V> {
 
   private static final int SER_BUFFER_SIZE = 1024 * 1024;  // TODO: tune this
   private static final ClassTag<Object> OBJECT_CLASS_TAG = ClassTag$.MODULE$.Object();
@@ -102,6 +101,7 @@ public void write(Iterator<Product2<K, V>> records) {
     write(JavaConversions.asScalaIterator(records));
   }
 
+  @Override
   public void write(scala.collection.Iterator<Product2<K, V>> records) {
     try {
       final long[] partitionLengths = mergeSpills(insertRecordsIntoSorter(records));
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/ShuffleWriter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/ShuffleWriter.scala
index f6e6fe5defe09..e28a2459cdff9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/ShuffleWriter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/ShuffleWriter.scala
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ import org.apache.spark.scheduler.MapStatus
 /**
  * Obtained inside a map task to write out records to the shuffle system.
  */
-private[spark] trait ShuffleWriter[K, V] {
+private[spark] abstract class ShuffleWriter[K, V] {
   /** Write a sequence of records to this task's output */
-  def write(records: Iterator[_ <: Product2[K, V]]): Unit
+  def write(records: Iterator[Product2[K, V]]): Unit
 
   /** Close this writer, passing along whether the map completed */
   def stop(success: Boolean): Option[MapStatus]
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/hash/HashShuffleWriter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/hash/HashShuffleWriter.scala
index cd27c9e07a3cd..8edfb9a054ada 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/hash/HashShuffleWriter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/hash/HashShuffleWriter.scala
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ private[spark] class HashShuffleWriter[K, V](
     writeMetrics)
 
   /** Write a bunch of records to this task's output */
-  override def write(records: Iterator[_ <: Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
+  override def write(records: Iterator[Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
     val iter = if (dep.aggregator.isDefined) {
       if (dep.mapSideCombine) {
         dep.aggregator.get.combineValuesByKey(records, context)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
index a066435df6fb0..72864b36c5824 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/shuffle/sort/SortShuffleWriter.scala
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ private[spark] class SortShuffleWriter[K, V, C](
   context.taskMetrics.shuffleWriteMetrics = Some(writeMetrics)
 
   /** Write a bunch of records to this task's output */
-  override def write(records: Iterator[_ <: Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
+  override def write(records: Iterator[Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
     if (dep.mapSideCombine) {
       require(dep.aggregator.isDefined, "Map-side combine without Aggregator specified!")
       sorter = new ExternalSorter[K, V, C](