Alex Shelley Says Wrestling Companies Would Benefit From Employing Concussion Spotters

Alex Shelley is not only a Pro Wrestling veteran but also a certified Physical Therapist. He shared his thoughts on how the industry can help protect Pro Wrestlers with brain-related injuries.

The IMPACT World Heavyweight Champion was a guest on Fightful’s Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen. Shelley would discuss numerous topics, but one issue was an injury in a different company’s ring. Shelley was asked about Jon Moxley’s concussion at AEW Grand Slam and who he might have thought was at fault. Shelley was asked if it was AEW Referee Rick Knox, Rey Fenix, or someone else’s fault for not noticing Jon Moxley’s head injury during Moxley’s International Championship match against Rey Fenix back in September.

Shelley told The Wrestling Perspective, “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 explained how brain injuries can be complex based on severity. 

“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.” Shelley said.

Shelley also said he did not see Jon Moxley’s head injury, but it was a topic of discussion backstage at IMPACT Wrestling. Shelley said AEW, WWE, and even IMPACT have the resources to hire 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?” Shelley said.

The former IWGP Junior Tag-Team Champion would also add, “We’re such good actors, as it were, but some of these things you can tell right away. If you know what a flexion synergy is or when you see something that looks like anesthesia on one side of the body, I mean, there are signs of a traumatic brain injury, certain types of motor coordination will go out the window, certain kinds of things will happen to the body, and they’ll lock up.”

Alex Shelley mentioned that former WWE SuperStar and the founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Chris Nowinski, has visited IMPACT Wrestling and other companies to educate companies on spotting potential head injuries.

“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.”

“It’s a perfect storm, man. I wish I had a better answer for you. Again, I can tell you what I would do in that situation. But man, maybe Moxley didn’t think it was that bad. I don’t know; maybe Phoenix couldn’t understand him. English is a second language. There’s a million things that can go wrong. Again, that’s why you must have that third party in the back who can spot the signs. That’s it, don’t touch him, leave him alone.”

Moxley has not been cleared since the September 20th AEW Grand Slam event.

Last week at #AEWDynamite Grand Slam, @ReyFenixMx won the International Title.
Both Fenix + former champ @JonMoxley were injured in the bout.
AEW Doctors are unable to clear Mox tonight, but moments ago they DID clear Fenix, who will defend his title in an Open Challenge TONIGHT!

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) September 27, 2023

Alex Shelley is set to defend his IMPACT World Heavyweight Championship title at IMPACT Wrestling’s Bound for Glory PPV on October 21st against Josh Alexander. Fightful will provide live play-by-play results. The current lineup for the card can be seen here.