Alex Shelley On Scott D’Amore: TNA Lost Not Just A Boss, But A Mentor And Family

Alex Shelley is proud of how the TNA roster rebounded after Scott D’Amore’s exit.

During a recent interview with Mark O’Brien for WrestleMobs/BodySlam.net, former TNA World Champion Alex Shelley shared his thoughts on the departure of Scott D’Amore.

Shelley said that it’s a sad and scary situation, but he had to commend the roster for continuing to put out their best work despite feeling down about D’Amore’s exit.

“It was very sad. And again, the sense of loss was quite strong. The other thing that I had experience in but not as many other people did. But there where a handful of us who, we’ve been through these situations where the booker has changed. And it’s scary if you’ve not been through it before. Because you don’t know if your livelihood is going to be taken from you. I feel like, TNA, and Anthony, and Ariel did the best job they possibly could. And of course they’re going to do the best job they can. They got handed a hot product. My heart still went out to a lot of my friends, who were just so distraught and so upset.

“And they didn’t know what to do. And it’s scary. Because it’s unknown. As human beings, we’re not good at predicting the future. I think I had to talk a lot of people off a ledge. And I was happy to do that. Because that’s what you do for your brothers and sisters. That’s what you do when you’re part of a team. And I think everybody’s done really well with it. I’ve been gone for a minute but even on the back end of it when we were there, it’s not like anybody didn’t do their best, it’s not like anybody said I don’t want to play anymore.

“Everybody went out there and killed it. I think that’s really cool. And these things are going to happen in life. I have been fortunate enough to not only have it happen in wrestling but have it happen in the workforce too right? So the company I worked for in physio was part of a much greater medical company. And we had two management changes and everybody gets shook up. But it doesn’t matter if you’re a pro wrestler or you work at the pencil eraser company right? It’s scary when you don’t necessarily know what’s gonna happen next. But I think everybody’s done really awesome with it. And I’m proud of them. I’m proud of everybody.”

Scott D’Amore has always been a mentor for Alex Shelley

During the same interview, the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion mentioned that D’Amore was always supportive of him in and outside the world of wrestling.

“He’s always been a mentor to me outside the ring too… There’s been so many times in this industry, especially in the past probably 10 to 15 years, where the business was going up. Where opportunities were in front of me and I took a different route. Usually in the form of Academia. And I’ve gone to college, two separate times. I have two degrees in part of a Masters. Scott was always encouraging of that. And it wasn’t necessarily something that constructively built my pro wrestling career in a lot of ways.

“I had a friend of mine say that there were times where I took my foot off the gas, when it related to wrestling to embark on these other ventures. And that’s probably true. But I don’t think anybody would argue that gaining a further education is a bad idea, that having a contingency plan outside of pro wrestling is a bad idea. So it’s just you damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Scott was always encouraging of that. Gosh, I remember he wrote a recommendation letter when I applied for my Master’s Program in Business.

“Years after that I would get recommendation letters to go to school for Physio, he wrote one of those as well. And he was always supportive of what I wanted to do, whether that was wrestling or whether it wasn’t. And very much like a patriarchal figure to a lot of us. I think that’s part of the reason that so many people were sad within TNA Wrestling/IMPACT Community when Scott left. And I’ve said this before, but they lost, not just a boss that they loved and trusted. But they lost a mentor, or a coach, or a family member. And he hit on all those different cylinders for me,” Alex Shelley said.

What do you think is next for Scott D’Amore?

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