Alex Shelley

I got this autograph at The Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY when TNA wrestling came to town. I always heard that this guy has an attitude and pretty much thinks his shit don't stink. After meeting him I tend to agree. He just did not seem happy to be there and in general just treated everyone like crap. Which is a shame because he is one of my favorite wrestlers. He was nice enough to sign this for me though so I guess I gotta thank him for that.

Alex Shelley was born Patrick Martin on May 23 1983 in Detroit, Michigan. He was initially trained by Bobo Brown and Breyer Wellington. He then joined BCW Can-AM Wrestling School and was trained by Scott D'Amore and Joe E. Legend and on March 2, 2002 made his wrestling debut as Alex Shelley. He chose his name by combining the forename of Alex DeLarge, the protagonist of the 1962 book A Clockwork Orange and the surname from Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the 1970's punk band, The Buzzcocks.

Shelley has wrestled for numerous independent promotions across the United States including, Border City Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, All American Wrestling and many more including my local wrestling affiliate Squared Circle Wrestling. He has also worked for Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action (TNA) and even had a tryout match for the WWE back June 12, 2005. He fought Simon Dean on an international version of WWE Heat in a losing effort after being hit with the Simonizor. Unfortunately, nothing came of it.

Shelley debuted in Ring of Honor in 2003. He has wrestled there as recently as 2008 and in his time there has fought many great wrestlers including Steve Corino, Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. He had his own faction in ROH called Generation Next which consisted of himself, Austin Aeries, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong. He did not hold a title during his time in ROH but along with Jimmy Rave and Abyss did win the Trios tournament in 2006.

Shelley signed a non-exclusive contract with TNA on July 8, 2004. He was paired with Goldy Locks and named "Baby Bear" Alex Shelley. Shelley requested his release from TNA later that year after then booker, Dusty Rhodes, stopped utilizing him. He re-signed with the company in 2005 after Dusty Rhodes stepped down as booker. In TNA he has wrestled in both the X Division as well as in the Tag Division, wrestling the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Sonjay Dutt, Eric Young and the Dudley Boys. He is a former TNA X-Division Champion and has also won the Chris Candido Memorial Cup with Sean Waltman (X-pac) and was part of the team to with the TNA World X Cup in 2006 with Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal. He currently wrestles mostly as part of the Tag Team, The Motor City Machine Guns with partner Chris Sabin.