During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Alex Shelley commented on wanting to work on the independent scene for the time being, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his current plans in wrestling: “Right now, the independents are where I want to be. That’s not to say I wouldn’t go back to a big company. AEW looks amazing. I had a great experience in WWE/NXT, Impact is doing some great stuff and so is Ring of Honor. I miss New Japan so dearly. But I very much enjoy independent wrestling on a grassroots level.”
On finding joy in working on the indies: “When I was growing up in this industry, I saw how dog-eat-dog it was, and I learned I needed a contingency plan. That was hard because I love pro wrestling so much. I’d pursued my education so I had a backup plan, and I promised myself I would never wrestle because I needed to, but rather only because I loved it. I’ve kept that promise. Wrestling Garcia and Yuta, these are matches I want. I’ve found a special kind of joy and energy grinding on the independents. I’m a play-for-the-love-of-the-game player. To me, this is what makes life worth living. And now I get to feed off the energy and spirit of Garcia and Wheeler. These are two very special wrestlers. If I can hang with these guys, I can hang with anybody in this industry.”
