Impact World Champion Alex Shelley overcame Nick Aldis at Slammiversary, but soon after was confronted by a returning Josh Alexander, who was making his long-awaited return from injury. Alexander never lost the Impact World Championship, but had to relinquish the Title because of his injury, so now that he’s back, many are waiting to see when Alexander and Shelley will collide. At Emergence, they were actually on the same team, and while they are friends outside of the ring as well, a match in the ring seems inevitable. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to speak to Shelley about that potential battle, and Shelley is not only game for it but welcomes the challenge and the opportunity to push himself even further.
“Yeah, of course. I would like to wrestle Josh again,” Shelley said. “He’s very, very good, and he’s a friend of mine. If I beat him, then we’d be 1-1, and that’d be nice for me. I think certainly in IMPACT, if not the world, he’s the best, and he pushes you.”
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“He’s a wrestler’s wrestler. He trains hard, and he’s in the ring constantly. He studies matches. He’s somebody who’s very sharp. He makes you sharper. Ultimately, that’s what I’m about,” Shelley said. “I think growing as a pro wrestler is the most important factor for me because the championship’s awesome, but at the same time if you stop growing, you’re kind of dead in the water.”
At Emergence Shelley teamed with Chris Sabin, Kushida, and Alexander in a match against Bully Ray, Moose, Brian Myers, and Lio Rush. While they didn’t end up winning, Shelley always enjoys tag teaming with Sabin and Kushida (also known as Time Machine), and their cohesion and familiarity with each other as a team allows Shelley to shut his brain off a bit.
“Oh, obviously there’s going to be three different answers that you would need to really get the full spectrum of the motivation behind it because their input is just as important as mine,” Shelley said. “But I like it because it’s two Tag Team partners that I clicked with. I mean, they’re my brothers, and in a way, it’s nice because I can kind of shut my brain off. When you have a singles match versus a Tag six-man match, there’s a different mentality to it. So it’s nice to be led once in a while. Good leaders know when to follow, and there are certain instances in those situations where I do follow.”
That said, with his role as Impact World Champion, those opportunities aren’t always going to come up. “And I love tag team wrestling, but I’m a singles World Champion, so how often do I need to do that or do I get to do that? A shocking amount if those two are around.”
What do you want to see next for Shelley, and what should happen with Shelley and Alexander? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
