Report: Why Alex Shelley Was Booked To Win The IMPACT World Title Revealed

Alex Shelley winning the IMPACT World Championship from Steve Maclin at Against All Odds was a true feel-good moment, with the veteran IMPACT star finally getting his hands on the big one.

As feel-good as the win was, the result was still somewhat of a shock, due to many expecting Maclin to have a longer reign, as well as Shelley not being built as a constant main event level competitor.

A report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has shed some light on why IMPACT decided to go with Shelley as world champion, with Meltzer suggesting that IMPACT gave Shelley the title as a thank-you for ‘killing himself’ in 2022 by working full-time as a physical therapist as well as working for IMPACT, and taking on around ‘100 independent matches’.

Meltzer further mentioned that Shelley has signed a full-time deal with IMPACT after returning to the company in 2022. It was revealed earlier this year that Shelley and tag team partner Chris Sabin had re-signed with IMPACT but the nature of their deals was unknown.

Shelley also competes for the likes of NJPW STRONG and MLW outside of IMPACT.