In news that hit the internet Monday night, according to Bryan Alvarez’s F4WOnline.com, former TNA World Tag Team and X-Division Champion Alex Shelley is leaving the company. Shelley’s (real name: Patrick Martin) contract with the Florida-based company is set to expire “imminently” according to most sources, and he has opted to not to renew his contract, effectively ending an 8-year run with the company, as well as breaking up the Motor City Machine Guns tag team with Chris Sabin, considered by many wrestling purists as one of the top five best tag teams in the world.
What is Shelley’s future from this point? Well, according Mark Madden as well as several other sources, Shelley may be headed to WWE, and it may be very soon. As the new WWE Network is still looking at a November/December debut, numerous people are expected to be brought into the company in order to not only help out with the network, but to star in brand-new, original programming as well. One of the top priorities for the network is a new show focusing exclusively on Cruiserweight wrestling, and Shelley is expected to be one of the headlining stars (along with former TNA and WWE star Brian Kendrick, who has reportedly signed with WWE as well. Take that one as a rumor for now).
Even if the new network has to push its debut back and the Cruiserweight show is put on the back-burner, Shelley could be a major asset to the company. WWE has put a much larger emphasis on smaller wrestlers recently, especially CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, who both weigh under 230 pounds. Much like those two, Shelley is considered one of the best all-around wrestlers in the world, and feuds with guys like Punk & Bryan, as well as fellow former indy standouts like Damien Sandow and Antonio Cesaro could be seen as dream matches for many fans, and would provide some of the best pure action most of us have seen in a long time.
Although Shelley’s signing has not been confirmed as of yet, the odds of him being signed are very good, and there’s a strong possibility we’ll see him on WWE television by the end of the year.
In other news, current TNA star Matt Morgan may be looking to re-sign with WWE when his current contract runs out in October. WWE has been very high on re-signing the near 7-footer (who worked as a member of the Smackdown! roster from 2003-2005) in the past, and they may now be closer than ever. Morgan stated in a recent interview that, although he would like to stay with TNA and help build the company, he is definitely interested in going back to WWE as well.
Although Morgan’s contract not up until October, he may be able to get out of it sooner than that. Many TNA wrestlers are signed for so many dates a year (similar to Brock Lesnar‘s contract), and if those dates are used up before the contract expires, the wrestler in question may be able to leave the company without a breach of contract taking place. Although I’m not positive on this, Morgan’s dates for 2012 may have already been exhausted, which would allow him to sign sooner.
