Josh Alexander Calls 2022 Emergence Match Against Alex Shelley “One Of My Favorite Title Defenses,” Landing In PWI Top 10
Josh Alexander was the IMPACT World Champion at Emergence in 2022.
Who knew that Alex Shelley and Josh Alexander would be running it back, but with the belt around the other waist? Alex Shelley is the IMPACT World Champion as the two head into Bound For Glory to do battle.
About one month ago, Bodyslam covered Pro Wrestling Illustrated rankings, with Josh Alexander coming in at #9 on the top 500 list.
Speaking to WhatCulture, Alexander was asked what fans could expect from the rematch.
“I mean, you can expect much of the same of what the first match was. I think the first match was one of my favorite matches of all time, one of my favorite title defenses just because, again, there’s a chemistry between us. Shelley has been somebody who’s been a friend, I can say somebody who’s helped me a great deal over the past few years especially. Now, to be trading words and coming to blows and just adding a different level to this match, I think it just makes it that much better and bigger. Under the biggest stage that IMPACT Wrestling has, the main event of Bound For Glory, trying to follow Mike Bailey and Will Ospreay, Trinity & Mickie James, and stuff like that, I think it’s only gonna put more pressure on us, push our backs against the wall to see if we can rise to the occasion. I don’t think I’m somebody that’s going to back down from any challenge like that, I don’t think Alex Shelley is either, so it’s a recipe for something special,” he said.
Josh Alexander was also asked about placing ninth on the PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) top 500
list in 2023.
“Yeah. I mean, my inner child that collected those magazines and discovered pro wrestlers by reading those lists. I didn’t know who Akuta Hadaka was when I picked up my first PWI magazine, but I was like, this guy’s ranked pretty high, I’m gonna check him out. Then I check him out, this guy’s amazing, you know what I mean? I discovered so many wrestlers just by reading those lists over the years and now for me to number nine, I know that there’s fans out there that are going to read through this list and they might not know who I am. They might not tune into IMPACT Wrestling, but now they might tune in just to see what I’m about and they’ll see what everybody else on the roster is about. I think we’ve been all knocking it out of the park as a locker room, so I think it’s a great way to get recognition on not just myself, but the company as a whole,” he said.
H/T Jeremy Lambert & Skylar Russell for Fightful.
Full Match, Emergence 2022:
Josh Alexander relinquished the IMPACT World Title in March due to injury. Steve Maclin won the World Title at Rebellion in April, and would carry the title until June 9th at Against All Odds when Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin in a big upset to win the IMPACT World Title.
Josh would brave the odds and return just a few short months later, appearing after at Slammiversary after Alex Shelley defeated Nick Aldis to retain the World Title belt. Since his return, Josh has made it will known that he’d be coming for the World Title belt that he never lost.
Josh Alexander is a 2x IMPACT World Champion, and the longest reigning World Champion as well. This is Alex Shelley’s first World Title run.
Alex Shelley and Josh will finally square off at Bound For Glory on October 21st. Who wins? We’ll have to tune in and find out.
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Matches previously announced for BOUND FOR GLORY:
IMPACT World Title
-Alex Shelley (c) vs Josh Alexander
IMPACT Knockouts World Title
-Trinity (c) vs Mickie James
IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Titles
-MK Ultra (c) vs Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz
IMPACT Tag Team Titles
??? (c) vs ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey)
IMPACT X Division Title
-Chris Sabin (c) vs KENTA
Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
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