Alex Shelley believes big wrestling promotions such as WWE, AEW, and IMPACT Wrestling could benefit from having concussion spotters.
The IMPACT World Champion recently sat down with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast’s Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen to discuss many subjects, including the best-possible ways to identify and prevent concussions in pro wrestling.
“I don’t think it’s any of the people you mentioned. I wouldn’t say it’s their fault. It’s obviously miscommunication, right? Something should have happened well before anybody has a chance to make a TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] worse,” Alex Shelley said.
He continued, “The scary thing about traumatic brain injuries is that you don’t know how bad they are until after the fact. People can get these injuries, and your brain is bleeding. You don’t know what the effects will be because there’s so much going on north of the neck, right? I’ve had people who have had a TBI, and they might seem minor at first, or the symptoms weren’t that bad. They magnified, and these people are dealing with these things for the rest of their lives.”
“Let’s see what we can change”
Shelley was asked to comment on Jon Moxley’s recent concussion on AEW Dynamite. Though the IMPACT star didn’t watch the clip, this was something his company discussed and big promotions with resources could benefit from having third-party Certified Athletic Trainers.
“So I didn’t see the incident, but people with IMPACT were talking about it, too. I’m sure people in every company are because that can happen to anybody. It’s good for them to talk about this too if it’s me and that happens to somebody I’m wrestling, I’m not touching [them]. I don’t care what anybody says; I’m hands-off. Like that’s it. But I think it could be really useful, and AEW has the resources to do it. The WWE and IMPACT could also do it, and it is called a concussion spotter. They started using these in all the major sports leagues. You have people whose job is to watch the NHL and monitor hits, and it will be much harder in pro wrestling, right?”
“It’d be awesome to have somebody doing that, and if that’s not the case, then it’s good to educate the people in the back on headsets to make sure that they know all of these things. Again, I don’t think this is anybody’s fault. I think it’s an aberrant situation that this occurred. That would be amazing and easy to have. Chris Nowinski is kind enough to go around to all the major companies. We just had him an IMPACT in December or January, and he gave a full-on presentation. He’s done them yearly at certain places. It’s a contact sport, though, like things will happen, and this is human error. Again, the blame should not be placed on anyone, but let’s see what we can change.” (H/T Fightful)
Shelley wished he had a better answer and there are many variables at play in Moxley’s incident, but a third-party spotter might be able to help.
Alex Shelley will be in action at Bound for Glory
Alex Shelley will be in action at Bound for Glory on October 21, where he’ll be putting his IMPACT World Championship on the line against former champion Josh Alexander.
Fans can check out the updated Bound for Glory 2023 card below:
- IMPACT World Championship – Alex Shelley (c) vs. Josh Alexander
- IMPACT Knockouts World Championship – Trinity (c) vs. Mickie James
- IMPACT X-Division Championship – Chris Sabin (c) vs. KENTA
- Will Ospreay vs. Mike Bailey
- 20-person Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet – winner receives a trophy and a future title shot they can invoke within one year against any championship of their choosing.
- IMPACT World Tag Team Championship – The Rascalz (Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz) (c) vs. ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey)
- IMPACT Knockouts World Tag Team Championship – MK Ultra (Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich) (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo and Tasha Steelz
WrestleZone will have coverage of Bound for Glory as it airs.
Also read: Josh Alexander Comments On Potential Reunion With Ethan Page
