Alex Shelley Talks Wanting To Be A Fighting Champion, Where He Draws Inspiration From

It took Alex Shelley 20 years to reach his biggest goal in professional wrestling.

Shelley talks about Legends that he’s drawn examples from on leaving a mark as both a champion as on pro wrestling as whole.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated for a new interview, Shelley talked about how he wants to leave a mark on the professional wrestling industry, much like a number of legends before him have done.

“I think back to Ric Flair and Harley Race defending the belt in multiple cities in one night. Those guys didn’t take nights off. Kevin Nash is another one. That stretch he had as WWE champion was insane. He said something that always stuck with me when he said, ‘I could either sleep or I could work out.’ If you find a gym, you take it. CM Punk took care of me on the road 20 years ago. If he passed a gym, he worked out. That’s part of how he left his imprint on the business. They led by example, and that’s what I plan to do.”

Shelley went on to note that he likes the grind of the sport and that he finds joy in it.

“It’s taken me years and years and years to reach this point, but I’ve never lost sight of the fact that wrestling is what I love. I like the grind. I find joy in it. Doing this at a high level, there is nothing like it.”

H/T Skylar Russell From Fightful full article here

Compilation of Alex Shelley’s defining matches:

Shelley is a former TNA X Division Champion, as well as a former 3x TNA/IMPACT Tag Team Champion with partner Chris Sabin as the Motor City Machine Guns.

Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin at the LIVE Against All Odds event on 6/9 to win the IMPACT World Title for the first time In his 20 year TNA/IMPACT career.

Alex Shelley is scheduled to defend his IMPACT World Title against Nick Aldis at Slammiversary on July 15th from Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

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