He finally did it.
After capturing the IMPACT World Championship following 20 years with the promotion, Alex Shelley spoke with Sports Illustrated for an interview.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On the importance of keeping his body physically healthy: “This is a gift. It’s not an obligation. It’s something I am lucky to do. If you want to be champion of a major promotion, you need to outwork everyone. That’s what I want; so I’m grinding.”
On how he never lost sight of his love for the business even though it took nearly two decades to reach his goal: “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.”
On his title winning performance against Steve Maclin at Against All Odds: “When I walked in, everything slowed down and became fluid. That reminded me it was my moment. It was my match and no one was going to take that away from me. I wasn’t going to believe anything until it happened, so it was surreal for me even as it was happening.”
On feeling a wave of confidence after initially locking up with Maclin: “The bell rings, me and Maclin lock eyes, and that’s when I knew, ‘I’ve got this.’ I’ve been doing this for two decades. I’ve been doing 30-minute matches every weekend for almost two years, and about a year and half of that was while I was working full time in physical therapy. There was no doubt. So as soon as I walked in the ring, I felt at home.”
On answering all of the many messages he received after winning the title: “I was very grateful that people watched the match and shared the moment with me. I’ve heard from a lot of people I was close with over the past 20 years. People from all over, including WWE and Japan and AEW. I didn’t even recognize some of the numbers at first. It was mind-blowing, it meant the world to me and I responded to every single one of those texts.”
