Alex Shelley

Patrick Martin (born May 23, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Alex Shelley. Shelley currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and on the independent circuit, most notably for Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX.

Career

Martin attended St. Robert Bellarmine grade school and Detroit Catholic Central High School, graduating from the latter in 2001. He went on to study art at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan.

Martin trained under Truth Martini and Breyer Wellington until their respective schools closed down. He then joined the BCW Can-Am Wrestling School and began training under Scott D'Amore and Legend. 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. His first paycheck was for the sum of $8.35 USD as remuneration for a match that took place in March 2002 in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Six months into his career, he was hospitalised with a shattered jaw when Petey Williams botched a Canadian Destroyer, and 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 Combat Zone Wrestling and Ring of Honor in June 2003.

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.

Ring of Honor

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 way match that was won by Whitmer. 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, the eponymous 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 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. 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.

On December 26, 2004 at Final Battle 2004, Shelley and Strong were defeated by CM Punk and Steve Corino. Following the match, Aries came to the ring and demanded that Shelley step-down as leader. After Shelley refused, he was attacked by Aries and Strong.

Shelley feuded with Generation Next throughout early 2005, unsuccessfully challenging Aries for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship at Manhattan Mayhem on May 7. On July 23 he joined Prince Nana's Embassy stable. The Embassy feuded with Generation Next throughout the remainder of 2005, with Generation Next defeating The Embassy in an eight-man elimination steel cage match (one ring Wargames match) on December 3 at Steel Cage Warfare.

On January 14, 2006 in Philadelphia, Shelley and Jimmy Rave attacked ROH World Heavyweight champion Bryan Danielson after a successful title defense. Shelley performed Spanky's (long time rival of Danielson) finishing move, Sliced Bread No. 2, on Danielson, claiming it was his "Kryptonite". Shelley was set to face Danielson at the 4th Anniversary Show, but lost the title shot after Jimmy Rave used his title shot earned at the Tag Wars 2006. Shelley used his title shot and faced Bryan Danielson for the ROH World title on March 11th in Philadelphia, but came up short. Recently has been tagging with Jimmy Rave in search for the ROH Tag Team Titles.

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. Shelley requested his release from TNA late that year after booker Dusty Rhodes stopped utilising him.

Shelley signed a new contract with TNA in 2005 after Rhodes resigned as TNA booker and signed with TNA again, and returned on June 19, 2005 at TNA 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 TNA 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 TNA 2005 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 Championships 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 the late 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. 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 owns over 200 professional wrestling videotapes). 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, he interviewed Kevin Nash, and aligned himself with Nash after Nash announced that he intended to destroy the X-Division.

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."

Since the creation of Paparazzi Productions, Shelley has recruited former Team Canada member Johnny Devine as a production assistant.