Patrick Kenneth Martin (born May 23, 1983) is an American professional wrestler and physical therapy clinician, better known by the ring name, Alex Shelley, currently signed with Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), where he is the current Impact World Champion in his first reign. He is also a former one-time X Division Champion and three-time World Tag Team Champion.
He first gained fame on the independent circuit, working for Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as in Japan, for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He has also worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Kushida and a former Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion alongside Chris Sabin, as the Motor City Machine Guns. Aside from wrestling, he is the lead singer of a rock band called The High Crusade, which includes his friends and fellow wrestlers Chris Sabin and Petey Williams.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (2002–2005) Martin initially started training in the 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 (ROH).
On June 12, 2005, Shelley made an appearance on the international version of WWE Heat, losing to Simon Dean after being hit with the Simonizer. His appearance was a tryout, but nothing came of it.
Ring of Honor
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 (TNA) 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)