Alex Shelley

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Patrick Martin
An image of Patrick Martin.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Alex Shelley
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight 215 lb (98 kg/15.4 st)
Born May 23, 1983 (1983-05-23) (age 25)
Detroit, Michigan
Resides Plymouth, Michigan
Billed from Detroit, Michigan
Trained by Truth Martini
Breyer Wellington
Scott D'Amore
Joe E. Legend
Debut March 2, 2002

Patrick Martin[1] (born May 23, 1983), better known by the ring name Alex Shelley, is an American professional wrestler currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He previously gained fame on the independent circuit, working most notably for Ring of Honor, as well as in Japan, for Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, where he currently holds the AAW Tag Team Championship with Chris Sabin, whom he currently teams with in TNA as the Motor City Machine Guns.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Martin initially trained under Bobo Brown, then trained with Breyer Wellington.[2] He then joined the BCW Can-Am Wrestling School and began training under Scott D'Amore and Joe E. Legend.[2] Martin debuted in 2002 as Alex Shelley, a name he created by combining the forename of Alex DeLarge, the protagonist of the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange, with the surname of Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the 1970s punk rock band the Buzzcocks.[2] Six months into his career, he was hospitalized with a shattered jaw when he slipped on a wet ring and hit the unpadded ring apron.[3] Shelley had steel plates inserted into his jaw as a result. After eight months, Shelley joined Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South promotion. He worked in the IWA for six months before joining the Philadelphia based Combat Zone Wrestling.[2] Not long after that, he joined Ring of Honor.[2]

On June 12, 2005 Shelley made an appearance on the international version of WWE Heat, losing to Simon Dean after being hit with the "Simonizer".

[edit] Ring of Honor

Shelley debuted in Ring of Honor on June 28, 2003 at WrestleRave 2003, facing BJ Whitmer, Tony Mamaluke and Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corners Survival match, which was won by Whitmer.[4] He appeared with ROH sporadically throughout the remainder of 2003 and early 2004, feuding with Jacobs and Matt Stryker.

At Generation Next on May 22, 2004, Shelley formed a stable, Generation Next, with Austin Aries, Jack Evans and Roderick Strong.[5] Generation Next, led by Shelley, spent the entirety of the event attacking other wrestlers, claiming that they were "the best that Ring of Honor has to offer". They began feuding with wrestlers with a respect for tradition such as Matt Stryker, Jimmy Rave and John Walters.

On July 17, 2004, at Reborn: Completion, Shelley lost to Doug Williams in the finals of a tournament for the vacant ROH Pure Championship.[6] That same night, Generation Next attacked Ricky Steamboat during his confrontation with CM Punk, with Punk subsequently siding with Steamboat to fend off Generation Next.[7] This led to a feud between Generation Next and the allies of Ricky Steamboat, culminating in a forty-five minute long eight-man elimination match at The Midnight Express Reunion on October 2, pitting Generation Next against CM Punk, John Walters, Jimmy Jacobs and Ace Steel. The match was won by Generation Next, with Shelley and Aries surviving.[8] Following the match, Shelley announced his intention of challenging Samoa Joe for the ROH World Championship. Aries then announced he too was going after the title, with Shelley telling him to "remember where your loyalties lie".

On December 26, 2004 at Final Battle 2004, Shelley and Strong were defeated by CM Punk and Steve Corino.[9] Following the match, Aries, feeling that Shelley was spending far too much time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling than he was leading Generation Next, came to the ring and demanded that Shelley step-down as the leader. Before Shelley could give an answer, he was attacked by Aries and Strong and kicked out of Generation Next.[10]

Shelley feuded with Generation Next throughout early 2005, unsuccessfully challenging Aries for the ROH World Championship at Manhattan Mayhem on May 7.[11] On July 23, Shelley was in a tag match against Aries and Strong, with him choosing a mystery partner. Shelley gave speculation in a backstage promo as to who his partner would be, saying it could be a new wrestler making their debut in Ring of Honor. He later that he did not bring someone in to ROH, but had joined The Embassy, a heel stable controlled by Prince Nana.[12] Teaming with Fast Eddie Vegas that night, The Embassy won their first match in a feud with Generation Next that would last for the remainder of the year.[13] The feud culminated in an eight-man elimination steel cage match on December 3, with Generation Next emerging the victor.[14]

At Hell Freezes Over on January 14, 2006 Shelley team with Rave to defeat the duo of Claudio Castagnoli and Azrieal. Later that evening, Prince Nana offered to buy the ROH World Championship from Bryan Danielson after his successfully defense against Chris Hero. When Danielson refused to sell it, he was attacked by The Embassy with Shelley giving him a Sliced Bread #2 claiming it was his "Kryptonite" as Danielson's long-time rival, Spanky, utilizes the move to defeat him on numerous occasions. The following show, The Embassy won the 2006 Trios Tournament, and thus each wrestler was granted any match they wanted, with Shelley and Rave both announcing they wanted a shot at the ROH World Championship.[15] Shelley was originally scheduled to face Danielson for the title on February 11, but a sever snowstorm hit the Northeast and Shelley was told by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling to fly back early to Orlando, Florida so he would not miss their pay-per-view the following day.[16] Shelley would eventually get his title shot one month later, but was unable to defeat Danielson.[17]

Shelley would then wrestled sporadically in ROH for the next few months before quietly leaving in June. His last appearance as a regular in Ring of Honor took place on June 24 when he managed Jimmy Rave and Conrad Kennedy III in a losing effort against the Briscoe Brothers.[18]

He returned to ROH along with Chris Sabin on March 30, 2007, following the Briscoe Brothers winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The two challenged Jay Briscoe for a shot at the title on April 28 in Chicago, then attacked him after he accepted. The two would ultimately lose the match and leave the company.[19]

On May 10, 2008, ROH announced Shelley and Sabin will return to ROH on August 1st in Virginia and August 2nd at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.[20]

[edit] Pro Wrestling ZERO-1 MAX

In March 2005 Shelley joined Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX. He won the vacant ZERO1-MAX United States Openweight Championship on September 19, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan, defeating Sonjay Dutt.[21] His reign lasted until November 23 of that year, when he lost the title to Christopher Daniels.[22]

On August 25, 2006, at Korauken Hall's ZERO-1 MAX show, Shelley and Chris Sabin became NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions, when they defeated former champions, Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita.[23]

[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Shelley signed a non-exclusive contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on July 8, 2004. He was paired with Goldy Locks and dubbed "Baby Bear" Alex Shelley.[2] Shelley requested his release from TNA late that year after booker Dusty Rhodes stopped utilizing him.[24]

Shelley signed a new contract with TNA in 2005 after Rhodes resigned as TNA booker, and returned on June 19, 2005 at Slammiversary, losing to Shocker. He went on to form a tag team with Michael Shane, with the duo losing to America's Most Wanted at No Surrender 2005 on July 17. Shelley entered the TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, but lost to Samoa Joe in the semi-finals on August 5. He then entered the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament with Sean Waltman as his tag team partner, and won the tournament by defeating Shocker and Chris Sabin in the finals on the September 9 episode of TNA iMPACT!. As a result of their victory, Waltman and Shelley were granted a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a four-way tag team bout at TNA Unbreakable on September 11. After Waltman no-showed the event, Shelley was left without a partner, but opted to wrestle alone. He was doubled teamed by Team Canada (Eric Young and A-1) for much of the match until Johnny Candido, the brother of Chris Candido, climbed on to the apron and accepted Shelley's tag. However, Candido was pinned by Young shortly thereafter, with Shelley being eliminated from the match as a result.[25]

Throughout late-2005, Shelley wrestled in the X Division as a heel, facing Austin Aries on several occasions. In November 2005 he introduced a gimmick that saw him bring a camcorder (the "Shelley-cam") to ringside in order to film matches to study later for strategic purposes (in reality, Shelley owned over 200 professional wrestling videotapes at the time).[26] In late 2005, he began teaming with his former Generation Next teammates Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, feuding with established X Division babyfaces, Sonjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, and Matt Bentley and demanding bigger roles in the company from road agent Jerry Lynn which lead to a series of matches in which the reformed Generation Next came out on top.

In early 2006, Shelley was recruited by Jeff Jarrett to obtain candid video footage of Jackie Gayda for the purposes of blackmail. Shelley went on to create the fictional enterprise "Paparazzi Productions" and obtain footage of Sting, Christian Cage and their respective families for the purposes of intimidation. Throughout April and May 2006, Shelley wrestled in the 2006 World X Cup Tournament as a member of the victorious Team USA. In May whilst the World X Cup was in progress, he interviewed Kevin Nash, during which Nash announced that the X Division was mere filler, and that intended to destroy the X Division. Shelley's lack of defense for the division created fiction between his team mates & himself, with Shelley ultimately aligning himself with Nash after the tournament's end.

Since then the two have done several well-received comedy vignettes (some exclusive to YouTube) mostly focusing on their feud with Chris Sabin. At Slammiversary 2006, Shelley helped Nash defeat Sabin. Earlier Shelley had been ranked fifth in the X Division after being the second person eliminated in a 6-man contender's match. In a post-match interview with Nash, Shelley claimed there was "ten guys, twenty guys- some of them had knives. I think I spotted a couple gats... guns."

On July 16, 2006 Shelley teamed up with Kevin Nash to face Chris Sabin and Jay Lethal. The two lost the bout, but would get the last laugh by Shelley, Nash, and Johnny Devine.

At Hard Justice 2006, Alex Shelley would replace Nash in a match. Shelley and Devine would move into the tag team division until they lost a Triple Chance Tag Team Battle Royal at No Surrender 2006. Shelley also appeared in Kevin Nash's Open Invational X Division Battle Royal at Bound for Glory 2006 on October 22, 2006. He lost the match to Austin Starr.

Since the creation of Paparazzi Productions, Shelley recruited former Team Canada member Johnny Devine as a production assistant. Johnny Devine was later fired by the Paparazzi. Devine has been replaced to the dismay of Shelley by former Generation Next team mate Austin Starr due to Kevin Nash's wishes. Since this, the three were seen backstage on various episodes of iMPACT in a tournament known as the Paparazzi Championship Series, which he won at Final Resolution

Afterwards, he would tape two kayfabe attacks by the Latin American Exchange. One on Brother Rays uncle, another on Johnny Rodz. When he showed the footage of the LAX beatdown on Rodz, he was confronted by Brother Ray. Before a fight could breakout, the LAX attempted to attack Brother Ray. However, when it seemed Ray had the upper hand, Kevin Nash distracted him. This allowed Shelley to hit him with a low blow. At Destination X 2007 Shelley helped LAX win the match by hitting Brother Devon with a video camera and giving him a Frog Splash through a table.

Shelley lost in the 5-man Xscape match at Lockdown 2007. He was pinned by Jay Lethal. Later, Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin were the remaining two and Sabin escaped, retaining the X Division Championship.

During the summer of 2007 Shelley began wrestling as a tag team in TNA with Chris Sabin. The two had been teaming in several independent promotions under the names Murder City Machine Guns and Motor City Machine Guns, both names being a play off of one of Shelley's former tag teams, "The Sexy Time Machine Guns" and the fact that both Sabin & Shelley hail from Detroit, Michigan.

In October of 2007, Shelley and Sabin started a feud with Team 3D, during which Team 3D declared a war on the entire X Division and was looking to kill it off. After months of feuding, Shelley and Sabin along with Jay Lethal were able to defeat Team 3D and Johnny Devine in a Street Fight at Against All Odds to save the X Division and to end the feud. With the win Team 3D were forced to drop their weights under 275 lb if they wanted to keep on wrestling for the company.

[edit] In wrestling

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ slam.canoe.ca. Alex Shelley's SLAM! Profile. “REAL NAME: Patrick Martin”
  2. ^ a b c d e f Clevett, Jason (2004-08-25). Alex Shelley: Next Generation superstar. “"I was lucky enough to have another school near my house where Truth Martini and Breyer Wellington would go to train, and that's where I first met them."”
  3. ^ Nunnally, Douglas (2006-05-07). The Wrestling Voice: Interviews – Alex Shelley. “Alex Shelley: Took a bump out of a wet ring with no padding on the apron, and a wet canvas made of rubber. Thanks, Petey Williams.”
  4. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2003-06-28). “BJ Whitmer defeated Tony Mamaluke, Alex Shelley & Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corner Survival Match”
  5. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2004-05-22). “Special K (Izzy & Dixie), The Christopher Street Connection & The Ring Crew Express went to a No Contest when the brand new faction in ROH, Generation Next (Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Jack Evans & Roderick Strong) stormed to the ring and broke the match up, challenging Special K to a match”
  6. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2004-07-17). “Doug Williams beat Alex Shelley to win the Pure Title”
  7. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2004-07-17). “The final confrontation between CM Punk and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat saw both men brawl until Generation Next attacked Steamboat and CM Punk saved “The Dragon” and both cleared house together”
  8. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2004-10-02). “Generation Next of Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans won the eight man elimination over Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat’s team of Pure Champion John Walters, CM Punk, Ace Steel and Jimmy Jacobs”
  9. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2004-12-26). “Steve Corino & CM Punk defeated Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong”
  10. ^ J.D. Dunn (2007-01-03). Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Final Battle 2004. “After the match, Austin Aries walks down and claims Alex Shelley is spending too much time on other projects (TNA). Aries and Strong turn on Shelley, booting him from Generation Next and electing Aries the new leader of the group by process of Natural Selection”
  11. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2005-05-07). “Austin Aries defeated Alex Shelley to retain the ROH World Title”
  12. ^ J.D. Dunn (2007-03-09). Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – The Homecoming. “Before the match, Alex Shelley explains he spent the last six months apologizing, and it didn’t get him anywhere, so he’s selling out to the Embassy”
  13. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2005-07-23). “Alex Shelley & Fast Eddie Vegas defeated Roderick Strong & Austin Aries”
  14. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2005-12-03). “Generation Next (Aries, Strong, Sydal, & Evans) defeated The Embassy (Rave, Shelley, Abyss, & Nana) in a Steel Cage Warfare elimination match”
  15. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2006-01-27). “Alex Shelley, Jimmy Rave, & Abyss defeated Jack Evans, Matt Sydal, & Jimmy Yang to win Trios Tournament 2006”
  16. ^ Vetter, Chris (2006-04-12). DVD Review: ROH, “Unscripted II”. “Unfortunately, about two feet of snow fell in New York that day, causing Homicide, Alex Shelley and Jay Lethal to leave early for a TNA PPV on February 12”
  17. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2006-03-11). “Bryan Danielson defeated Alex Shelley to retain the ROH World Title”
  18. ^ Burgan, Derek (2006-08-19). Derek Burgan reviews ROH Chi-town Sturggle. “The Briscoe Brothers beat The Embassy (Jimmy Rave and Conrad Kennedy III w/Prince Nana, Daizee Haze, and Alex Shelley) in 12:55”
  19. ^ Ring of Honor Official results (2007-04-28). “Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles in an absolute classic that many fans are calling a match of the year candidate”
  20. ^ Ring of Honor Newswire (2008-05-11).
  21. ^ Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX Results: “Scramble ‘05” (2005-09-19).
  22. ^ Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX Results:”MAX Around” (2005-11-23).
  23. ^ Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX Results: “MAX LAND – Progress” (2006-08-25).
  24. ^ Nunnally, Douglas (2006-05-07). The Wrestling Voice: Interviews – Alex Shelley. “Alex Shelley: I asked for my release from TNA when Dusty Rhodes took over the book and didn't use half the X-Division”
  25. ^ Schultz, Chris. "Official TNA "Unbreakable" Results", TNA Wrestling, 2005-09-11. 
  26. ^ Banks, Bill (2005-12-01). TNA Wrestling News: An Exclusive Interview With Alex Shelley. “SHELLEY: Not tons, but a fair amount. I’d say AT LEAST 200, maybe more”
  27. ^ Hell Freezes Over
  28. ^ Tag Wars 2006
  29. ^ "December 5, 2007". TNA Today. 2007-12-05.
  30. ^ TNA Meltdown Vol 2 Product Page. ShopTNA. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.

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[edit] External links

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