Alex Shelley
Patrick Kenneth Martin, better known by the ring name Alex Shelley, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. He is widely known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is the TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament winner, a former one-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and a former one-time TNA X Division Champion, but is best known for his work as a tag team with Chris Sabin as the Motor City Machine Guns, having become three-time TNA World Tag Team Champions, and won the Gauntlet for the Gold in 2008. He is recognized as the tenth Triple Crown winner in TNA, having won the TNA World Championship, the X Division Championship, and the Tag Team Championship.
Martin first rose to fame on the independent circuit, and gained breakout success while performing for Ring of Honor, having won the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Chris Sabin as one-half the Motor City Machine Guns. He is also known for his tenures in Japan with Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where in the latter promotion, he is a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Kushida as one-half of the Time Splitters, and a former Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion as one-half of the Motor City Machine Guns.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (2002–2003)
Martin initially started training in early 2002 under Breyer Wellington and Truth Martini. He then joined the Border City Wrestling's Can-Am Wrestling School, and began training under Joe E. Legend and Scott D'Amore. Martin debuted in March 2002 as Alex Shelley, a name he created by combining the forename of Alex, 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. 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. 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. Not long after that, he joined Ring of Honor.Ring of Honor (2003–2006, 2007–2008, 2010, 2014–2015)
Generation Next (2003–2004)
Shelley debuted in Ring of Honor on June 28, 2003, at WrestleRave 2003, facing B. J. Whitmer, Tony Mamaluke and Jimmy Jacobs in a Four Corners Survival match, which was won by Whitmer. He appeared with ROH sporadically throughout the remainder of 2003 and early 2004, feuding with Jimmy 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. 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 R. J. Brewer.
On July 17, 2004, at Reborn: Completion, Shelley lost to Doug Williams in the finals of a tournament for the vacant ROH Pure Championship. 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. 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. 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. 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, turning him into a fan favorite in the process.
The Embassy (2005–2006)
Shelley feuded with Generation Next throughout early 2005, unsuccessfully challenging Aries for the ROH World Championship at Manhattan Mayhem on May 7. 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 revealed that he did not bring someone in to ROH, but had joined "The Embassy", a heel stable controlled by Prince Nana. 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. The feud culminated in an eight–man elimination steel cage match on December 3, with Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans and Matt Sydal of Generation Next defeating Shelley, Jimmy Rave, Abyss and Nana of The Embassy.At Hell Freezes Over on January 14, 2006, Shelley teamed up 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 successful 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 and former Embassy member, Spanky, utilized the move to defeat him on numerous occasions. The following show, The Embassy of Shelley, Rave and Abyss won the 2006 Trios Tournament defeating Generation Next of Jack Evans and Matt Sydal and their partner Jimmy Yang in the finals, 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. Shelley was originally scheduled to face Danielson for the title on February 11, but a severe 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. Shelley would eventually get his title shot one month later at Arena Warfare, but was unable to defeat Danielson.
Shelley would then wrestle 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.
Sporadic tag team appearances (2007–2008, 2010, 2014–2015)
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.In April 2008, Shelley and Sabin returned to ROH, losing to The Age of the Fall and defeating the Briscoe Brothers on the 18 and 19 respectively.
In August 2008, Shelley and Sabin once again returned to ROH, wrestling Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson to a 25-minute time limit draw and losing to Kevin Steen and El Generico on the 1st and 2nd respectively. Shelley and Sabin were scheduled to return to ROH on October 24 and 25, but were pulled from the events by TNA and replaced by The Latin American Xchange.
On February 13, 2010, Ring of Honor announced at their 8th Anniversary Show that the Motor City Machine Guns would return to the company on May 8 in New York City. On May 8 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling via disqualification, when the Briscoe Brothers interfered in the match.
Shelley returned to ROH on December 7, 2014, at Final Battle 2014, where he and Kushida unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The Time Splitters returned to ROH on August 22, 2015, losing to the Briscoes at Field of Honor.
Pro Wrestling Zero-1 Max (2005–2008)
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. His reign lasted until November 23 of that year, when he lost the title to Christopher Daniels.On August 25, 2006, at Korakuen Hall's Zero-1 Max show, Shelley and Chris Sabin became NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions, when they defeated champions, Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. They lost the titles to the team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara on April 6, 2008.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004–2012)
Goldy Locks; X Division (2004–2005)
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. Shelley requested his release from TNA late that year after booker Dusty Rhodes stopped utilizing him.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 semifinals on August 7. 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 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 for much of the match until Johnny Candido, the brother of Chris Candido, climbed onto 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.
Throughout late–2005, Shelley wrestled in the X Division as a villain, facing Austin Aries on several occasions. In November 2005, he introduced a gimmick that saw him bring a camcorder to ringside in order to film matches to study later for strategic purposes. In late 2005, he began teaming with his former Generation Next teammates Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, feuding with established X Division fan favorites, Sonjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, and Matt Bentley and demanding bigger roles in the company from road agent Jerry Lynn which led to a series of matches in which the re–formed Generation Next came out on top.