Various: Alex Shelley on Missing Impact’s Hard to Kill, NJPW Strong & New Beginning in Nagoya Cards

Alex Shelley Comments on Why He Missed Impact’s Hard to Kill Event

As noted before, Impact Wrestling pulled Alex Shelley from the card of their Hard to Kill event earlier this month. Prior to the start of the event, Shelley issued a statement mentioning that his removal was not due to him recently testing positive for the coronavirus.

In a series of tweets, Shelley provided an update on Thursday explaining why he had to miss Impact’s event and when he might be returning to the company.

“Most days out of the week, I look like this. I read theories about why I wasn’t at Impact Wrestling for Hard to Kill. They ranged from injury, to illness, to getting arrested, to harming my family members and attempting to cover it up; I am a physical therapy clinician. Physio is my livelihood and career. Wrestling is my livelihood and passion project. At my company, due to the volume of sick and injured patients we are in care of, we modify our COVID-19 mandates as needed. As numbers went up, so did restrictiveness.

To circumvent the topic, I could not be at Hard To Kill due to my career. I respect the decisions made by our company surgeons and doctors: I look to them for advice and guidance. I am unable to travel and wrestle until I am vaccinated. I took every caution I could before…

But I don’t feel right maintaining this duality unless I take every possible safety measure. When the vaccine became available, that required extra security on my end and my company’s end for our patients. I honestly don’t want to get the vaccine so soon…

But I want to wrestle very badly while I help people in therapy. So there’s no option. Impact Wrestling was supportive and understanding and as someone who doesn’t have nor want a contract at this point, my hands were tied. Thanks for your support everyone.”

Source: F4WOnline.com

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Full Card for Friday’s Episode of NJPW Strong

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full card for tonight’s Road to Lion’s Break: Contender themed episode of NJPW Strong, which airs on New Japan World starting at 10PM EST.

• Clark Connors vs. The DKC
• Rocky Romero vs. Chris Dickinson
• Lio Rush, TJP, & Fred Rosser vs. Bullet Club (Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, & KENTA)

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Updated Card for NJPW The New Beginning in Nagoya 2021

NJPW recently announced the updated card for their The New Beginning in Nagoya 2021 event, which takes place this Saturday at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Aichi, Japan. The New Beginning in Nagoya 2021 airs live on New Japan World starting at 3:30AM EST.

1. Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL
2. Master Wato, SHO, Tomoaki Honma, & Kota Ibushi vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, & SANADA
3. Loser Must Stop Using the Mongolian Chop match – Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Great-O-Khan
4. No Disqualification match – Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay
5. NEVER Openweight Championship – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi (c)