World Champion Says Pandemic Prevented More Additional WWE Appearances

WWE

A world champion says the pandemic prevented more additional WWE appearances.

After nearly two decades in the industry, Alex Shelley made his WWE debut on the NXT brand alongside his Time Splitters tag team partner KUSHIDA in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament.

Many fans were disappointed and confused by Shelley’s limited amount of appearances despite performing well.

During a virtual signing with Captain’s Corner, Shelley revealed that if the pandemic didn’t happen, there may have been more of Time Splitters in WWE. He said:

“Oh, I love the Time Splitters. We started in 2012. So I left TNA in 2012, went to New Japan. I was under contract for three years and the first thing I did was start teaming with KUSHIDA and we had met him before because he trained in Canada at the same school we trained at.”

“He was a few years after us so first time face-to-face meeting with 2008 and then he finished his excursion which a lot of the Japanese wrestlers do to gain some seasoning so he went back to Japan.”

“When he got back, I remember watching some of his matches for a smaller company that TAJIRI owned and oh my God, he looked just like the Motor City Machine Guns. Just like us.”

“If you mash both of us (Shelley & Chris Sabin) together, you got this and he wrestled the part too but he was always really, really good.”

“So we became best friends, I was best man at his wedding. He was there for me for a lot of different parts of my life and stayed in touch and there was almost a point in 2019, ‘20, before the pandemic where if the pandemic hadn’t happened, you might’ve saw Time Splitters in WWE a lot more.”

Shelley continued on to talk about working with KUSHIDA in IMPACT, GCW and more, saying:

“But because that happened and things worked out the way they did, we got Time Splitters elsewhere, in GCW, some independents and IMPACT. Most importantly, we got Time Machine in IMPACT too which to me is like the most fun.”

“That is my favorite thing to do. How lucky am I to have him and KUSHIDA and we all work together really, really, really well so those are really, really special matches for me.”

“Not to discount anything here (IMPACT World Title) but at the same time, my art is with Time Machine in a lot of ways.”

Alex Shelley defeated Steve Maclin to become the new IMPACT World Champion at IMPACT Against All Odds last month. He then went on to defend his title against Nick Aldis at Slammiversary on July 15.

Transcription via POST Wrestling

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• alex shelley
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