Alex Shelley comments on signing a contract with IMPACT Wrestling.
On March 23, 2023, it was announced that Shelley and Chris Sabin had signed contracts with IMPACT Wrestling. At the time, many fans were surprised to see that Shelley had signed a deal, as he notoriously been a free agent in the wrestling space for many years. For the past number of years, Shelley has balanced his wrestling career with a separate career in the medical field.
In a new interview with WrestleZone, Shelley was asked about signing a deal with IMPACT, to which he noted that he completed a personal goal of making sure he was adequate outside of the world of wrestling.
“For years I had this idea that I was going to be depending on wrestling and if wrestling wasn’t there, then I would have nothing. It took a long time and it took a a lot of education, I’ve got two bachelor's degrees and part of a masters. I had to, for my sanity, exist in the real world for a period of time. I’ve wanted that, and I did that. When I first decided to come back to wrestling, I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got a pretty good degree. I’ve got a good job in medicine, I’ll just dabble in it and see how it goes.’ If you really enjoy something and you’re good at it, you tend to want to do it more. Eventually I started to realize that maybe I’m better than I thought I was. Now that I’ve got this monkey off my back in terms of feeling inadequacy, in terms of existing in the real world. Now that that has been taken care of and I know full well that I can exist in the real world, I can devote myself to wrestling and really love it. Now I can be very open with it."
Shelley then reflected on how he eventually came to terms with the fact that he should be in wrestling in a full time capacity.
"As I went through that process, I started wrestling more and more and more. Eventually, it got to the point where I think despite how good I am at other things in life and despite what I’ve set myself up for with these contingency plans, I’m probably supposed to be doing this. If I really look at why I exist and what I can do the most good with, and how many lives I can touch with wrestling, it far out ways anything else I could potentially do. That’s when I started to realize that I should probably go back to wrestling full time."
Shelley then talked about stepping away from his medical work, and how he did take the time to make an educated decision on the situation. The veteran went on to express that he was happy with his decision to sign with IMPACT.
"I realized that life is unpredictable. I can’t assume that wrestling is always going to be there. No, you’ve only got now as far as throwing yourself into something and I’ve had that mentality for probably over a year and I signed my contract about two months ago. I was precarious as I could be with trying to manage it and make an educated decision, but wrestling is always changing anyway and IMPACT seemed like the right place at the right now, I love that company very much. That was the first contract I’ve put my name to since probably 2016 when I signed with Ring Of Honor for two years. I’m very happy to do that to do it for a company that I love.”
Fightful will have full coverage of IMPACT Wrestling on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. EST.
Shelley is set to challenge Steve Maclin for the IMPACT World Championship at the Against All Odds special event. Fans can see the full card for the event by clicking here.
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