It’s always good to get the thoughts of somebody in the medial field, and in this case, that’s Alex Shelley. Sort of.
Alex Shelley is a former physical therapy clinician, so it’s safe to assume that he’s seen his fair share of various injuries and the lasting affects they’ve had on people. He also has a degree in familial medicine.
The IMPACT World Heavyweight Champion was a guest on Fightful’s Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen. Shelley would discuss numerous topics, but one issue was an injury in a different company’s ring. Shelley was asked about Jon Moxley’s concussion at AEW Grand Slam and who he might have thought was at fault. Shelley was asked if it was AEW Referee Rick Knox, Rey Fenix, or someone else’s fault for not noticing Jon Moxley’s head injury during Moxley’s International Championship match against Rey Fenix back in September.
Shelley told The Wrestling Perspective, “I don’t think it’s any of the people you mentioned. I wouldn’t say it’s their fault. It’s obviously miscommunication, right? Something should have happened well before anybody has a chance to make a TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] worse.“
Alex Shelley explained how brain injuries can be complex based on severity.
“The scary thing about traumatic brain injuries is that you don’t know how bad they are until after the fact. People can get these injuries, and your brain is bleeding. You don’t know what the effects will be because there’s so much going on north of the neck, right? I’ve had people who have had a TBI, and they might seem minor at first, or the symptoms weren’t that bad. They magnified, and these people are dealing with these things for the rest of their lives.” Shelley said.
Shelley also said he did not see Jon Moxley’s head injury, but it was a topic of discussion backstage at IMPACT Wrestling. Shelley said AEW, WWE, and even IMPACT have the resources to hire third-party Certified Athletic Trainers.
“So I didn’t see the incident, but people with IMPACT were talking about it, too. I’m sure people in every company are because that can happen to anybody. It’s good for them to talk about this too if it’s me and that happens to somebody I’m wrestling, I’m not touching [them]. I don’t care what anybody says; I’m hands-off. Like that’s it. But I think it could be really useful, and AEW has the resources to do it. The WWE and IMPACT could also do it, and it is called a concussion spotter. They started using these in all the major sports leagues. You have people whose job is to watch the NHL and monitor hits, and it will be much harder in pro wrestling, right?” Shelley said.
The former IWGP Junior Tag-Team Champion would also add, “We’re such good actors, as it were, but some of these things you can tell right away. If you know what a flexion synergy is or when you see something that looks like anesthesia on one side of the body, I mean, there are signs of a traumatic brain injury, certain types of motor coordination will go out the window, certain kinds of things will happen to the body, and they’ll lock up.”
Alex Shelley mentioned that former WWE SuperStar and the founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Chris Nowinski, has visited IMPACT Wrestling and other companies to educate companies on spotting potential head injuries.
“It’d be awesome to have somebody doing that, and if that’s not the case, then it’s good to educate the people in the back on headsets to make sure that they know all of these things. Again, I don’t think this is anybody’s fault. I think it’s an aberrant situation that this occurred. That would be amazing and easy to have. Chris Nowinski is kind enough to go around to all the major companies. We just had him an IMPACT in December or January, and he gave a full-on presentation. He’s done them yearly at certain places. It’s a contact sport, though, like things will happen, and this is human error. Again, the blame should not be placed on anyone, but let’s see what we can change.”
“It’s a perfect storm, man. I wish I had a better answer for you. Again, I can tell you what I would do in that situation. But man, maybe Moxley didn’t think it was that bad. I don’t know; maybe Fenix couldn’t understand him. English is a second language. There’s a million things that can go wrong. Again, that’s why you must have that third party in the back who can spot the signs. That’s it, don’t touch him, leave him alone.”
H/T Rob Wilkins For Fightful.
Full interview:
Alex Shelley is no stranger to head injuries himself. In June of 2013, he had a slightly fractured skull with fluid leaking out of his nose for a week.
Shelley is currently the IMPACT World Champion and set to defend his title against the longest-reigning IMPACT World Champion in company history, Josh Alexander, at the Bound for Glory PPV in just over a week.
This is Alex Shelley’s first run with the World Title, as his previous title runs we’re with partner and best friend Chris Sabin as part of the Motor City Machine Guns becoming 3x IMPACT Tag Team Champions.
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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
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-MK Ultra (c) vs Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz
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??? (c) vs ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey)
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Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
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