ROHWorld.com Forum

I used to be really, really high on Alex Shelley. Like, there was a time I could not get enough of his in-ring work. Over the last 12-18 months in just his ROH stuff (has he wrestled anywhere else?) I got the vibe that he had lost a step or progressed to a different level and style in the ring where he was choosing to be less flashy. Maybe I am alone in this or maybe it is that I just could not get invested in what he was doing.

Listening to him on the 12/21 AOW podcast gave me a really different perspective and a renewed respect for him, knowing that he's been an active student in pursuit of higher education and degrees. Nothing to dislike about his plan for being prepared after his ring career is done. While that won't seemingly change his commitment to ROH and his current role, I do wonder if when his current run with Sabin is done if Shelley would be a viable talent to give a singles run to. Could he recapture some of the magic I saw years ago and be a focal point? I have no doubts he would also be a viable and valuable veteran to boost the young talent priming them for their future role(s)?

Anyone else have an idea like this for Shelley or someone else on the roster?

Even though Shelley has been around forever, he's only a few years older than Dalton Castle (and younger than Silas Young and Kenny King, to name a couple "fresh faces"). I am of a similar opinion, in that Shelley's current run has felt mailed in, but I was also impressed by his AoW interview. If the promise of a serious singles push could invigorate him, I'd be into it. Obviously a lot of tread on the tires, but if he can turn back the clock, I'd love to watch it.

Had very similar thoughts on him after listening to him on the podcast

I think it's partially due to the guns being a team for most of the past 10 years. Not many teams last 10+ years unless there are major overhauls. To their credit, staying together that long is an accomplishment, but at the same in wrestling you need to keep re-inventing yourself. Sabin is in the same boat. Both guys are incredibly talented, and seem like they are more in that help new talent role, which is good. But also it's probably time to go solo, or something similar to Bad Influence, and the Briscoes.

I think going singles would be best for him. Sabin has definitely lost a step due to injuries, which slows the whole team down. I've always thought Shelley has been at his best either doing fast-paced tag team stuff or heavy technical stuff, and we've seen him doing the former almost exclusively for a good decade now, so I think a singles run would be great for him.

I also earned a lot more respect for him when I listened, however I respected him before then anyways. Shelley's been through a lot and would occassionally vent on Twitter about whether he should continue wrestling or not because his family felt like he was suffering a lot of damage but wasn't going anywhere. He has also said that he suffered from bouts of depression which he has seemingly overcome, so again, nothing to not like about the dude.

That said, I think Chris Sabin gets a really hard time from some people nowadays. This is a dude whose had surgery on both his ACL's and I believe one miniscus on top of that. That alone is extremely hard to come back from but he did and he still takes a lot of bumps that make me go, "oh fuck", because if he lands a quarter of an inch incorrectly, then boom, his wrestling career is effectively over. I think The Guns overall performances last year steadily got better and when they won the titles, if you watch the VOD's, they were having really good matches but they were being booked against teams more popular than them so they had to play to those crowds and come across a bit like heels.

I personally think they need to turn The Guns heel and let them act like smarmy douchebags, which IMO is what they did best in TNA back in the day. I recall really enjoying their feud with Mick Foley where they really got to show their personalities.