The TNA X Division could have looked a lot different in 2011 if the office took Alex Shelley’s advice.
Shelley has been sharing stories from his career on social media over the past few months, and most recently took to Twitter to share one about how he saw several stars in the making and pushed TNA to revamp their X Division.
He says TNA was looking for new X Division wrestlers in 2011, so he pitched the idea of the company signing Ricochet, Samuray Del Sol, Sami Callihan, and Shiima Xion. Of course, Samuray is better known to WWE fans as Kalisto and Shiima Xion is currently signed to NXT as Joaquin Wilde, but it’s quite a lineup that potentially could have transformed the X Division.
Shelley says the reason it didn’t materialize—the owner of the company’s daughter “really liked a guy they gave a football and varsity jacket to instead.” Jesse Sorenson was the unnamed wrestler that ended up donning the jacket, ultimately being signed by TNA after appearing in the 2011 X Division Showcase tournament.
He added that the football player (Sorenson) was a very nice and kind individual but he wasn’t sure how the gimmick appealed to a national audience, noting that “the person it was meant to appease was from Texas, where they take their football real serious.” Shelley also shared his thoughts on how the gimmick could have been successful, pitching an idea for a heel gimmick that had shades of fictitious sports icons Al Bundy and Kenny Powers mixed in.
To be fair, said football player was very nice and kind. And the whole gimmick could have been THE BEST HEEL GIMMICK EVER if they took my advice: “Five touchdowns, one game. POLK HIGH FOOTBALL RULES!”
— @Lx $helley (@AlexShelley313) May 11, 2020
Seriously, grown ass man hanging around high school/college a la Dazed and Confused and absolutely destroying kids in beer pong (or losing and flipping tables) in a Kenny Powers sort of way would have been the best thing in the company.
— @Lx $helley (@AlexShelley313) May 11, 2020
Sorenson suffered a serious neck injury on February 12, 2012 in a match against Shiima Xion (then going as Zema Ion) and spent close to a year recovering. He worked with the TNA office for a short time before being released, and worked sporadically over the past several years, including matches for Ring Of Honor and NXT.
Ricochet went on to have a big run with Lucha Underground, New Japan and WWE, including his most recent reigns as WWE United States and NXT North American Champion. Kalisto and Wilde are currently signed with WWE, with the “Lucha House Party” member seeing plenty of success as a Tag Team, Cruiserweight and United States Champion. The final name in that group, Callihan worked for NXT as Solomon Crowe for a short time, then left and became “The Draw” with IMPACT, winning their World Championship in 2019.
