Alex Shelley talks IMPACT, Jade Cargill, PT, NJPW, more

IMPACT Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Alex Shelley was this upcoming week’s guest on Fightful’s Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen. Here are the notes from the conversation. This interview will be available for streaming or download at 9:00 AM EST, Monday, October 9th.

Alex said it was in 2002 that there were few options for wrestlers to make a living. Shelley said WWE was it, and TNA was just coming up but was not fully established.

He said he has always loved wrestling but made sure that he breathed, ate,  and slept wrestling. He went back to school and got his bachelor's degree. Shelley said the business changed so much in those few years that he was confident he made the right decision.

Shelley spoke about going to New Japan and said he had three amazing years with NJPW. He said with the NJPW and Ring of Honor relationship, he was basically traded to Ring of Honor.

Shelley spoke about going back to school for Physical Therapy. He said his contract would not allow him to work domestically, but he could work internationally. Shelley said he missed out on working with a whole generation of talent.

He said he had offers from other companies, but ROH was best for him regarding a school schedule. Shelley spoke about some of his Physical Therapy patients and how COVID-19 played a role.

The IMPACT World Champion said he had eight days off in 2022, and every other day was either physical therapy, traveling, or pro wrestling. Shelley said he wrestled over 100 matches that year. Shelley said when 2023 rolled around, Alex told IMPACT Wrestling that he would be looking for a contract. Shelley said they gave him one to his liking and signed a full-time contract in March.

Shelley said there was a point where he only wanted to be a tag-team wrestler. Shelley mentioned when he came back in 2019, he was a singles wrestler, and there were no tag team partners for him, referring to Kushida of Time Splitters and Chris Sabin of Motor City Machine Guns. Shelley said he would be booked as a singles wrestler because that was an open spot.

Shelley says singles matches and tag-team matches have different levels of thinking and conditioning. Shelley said it took effort to get good at the singles matches. He mentioned that's where the Independents played a role.  He noted that because he was able to get better at singles matches, that helped him become the IMPACT World Heavyweight Champion, Revolver Remix Champion, and Prestige World Champion,

Shelley spoke about how he has friends with people who were producers in IMPACT and WWE in 2019. He said he was jealous because they were under contract, and he wasn’t. Shelley wondered what went wrong. Shelley said he received mental health therapy, which went well for him. Shelley said it had a “butterfly effect” on him, and he realized he couldn’t have it all.

The topic of injuries arose, and Shelley was asked about the Rey Fenix vs. Jon Moxley match from AEW Grand Slam. Lars Frederiksen of WPP asked who was at fault at that point. Shelley did not think it was anyone's fault, but it was more of an obvious form of miscommunication. Shelley said he did not see it, but people at IMPACT were talking about it. Alex said it could happen to anybody. Shelley did say it would be helpful if companies had a concussion spotter.

Alex was asked about his thoughts on Jade Cargill signing with the WWE. He said that Jade is “going to be looked after there and trained by some of the best. I've got a lot of friends who are coaches there. I'm sure they're very excited to work with her.”

The interview ended with Alex promoting his Social Media.