Motor City Machine Guns

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Motor City Machine Guns
Tag Team
Members Chris Sabin
Alex Shelley
Name(s) Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley
Murder City Machine Guns†
Motor City Machine Guns†
Heights Sabin:[1]
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Shelley:[2]
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Combined weight 435 lb (197 kg)[1][2]
Hometown Detroit, Michigan, United States
Debut 2006
Promotions ZERO1
PWG
ROH
TNA
UPCW
AAW

The Motor City Machine Guns† are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. The team currently works in the American company Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the Japanese Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX. The team name, which has been variably Motor and Murder City, is a play off of the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, the hometown of both Shelley and Sabin.

Contents

[edit] Career

Shelley and Sabin first started teaming in Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX in 2006. On August 25 they took the ZERO-1 MAX International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Minoru Fujita and Ikuto Hidaka, holding them for almost two years before dropping them back to Fujita and his new partner Takuya Sugawara.[3] After returning Stateside, the pair had short runs in the independent promotions Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor under the names Motor City Machine Guns[4] and Murder City Machine Guns respectively until their main employer, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) requested their wrestlers stop taking bookings with certain independent companies.[5]

It wasn't until April 2007 that the team debuted in TNA, where hence they had been singles X Division wrestlers. After squaring off against each other in an Xscape match at the annual Lockdown pay-per-view they became regulars in the tag team division, first using the Murder City name,[6] before it was changed to Motor City.[7] On an episode of TNA Today Shelley implied that this was against the teams wishes, saying that "Murder City" was the real name, and "Motor City" was the PG version.[8] After being together for a few weeks in TNA, Kevin Nash—who already had a history with both both men—was brought in as a manager, ending his previous alliances with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt in the process,[6] though his association with the group was short lived.

The team continued to work in independent promotions in parallel with their work in TNA, getting a run with the Illinois-based All American Wrestling's Tag Team Championship between September 2007 and January 2008.[9] In November, when TNA's Team 3D (Brothers Ray and Devon) began a feud with the X Division as a whole, Shelley and Sabin became their main opposition.[10][11] During the feud, for which Sabin and Shelley were joined by the X Division Champion Jay Lethal while Johnny Devine was put with Team 3D, the heels stole the X Division championship belt,[12] before Devine won the title outright.[13] At Against All Odds Sabin, Shelley, and Lethal won a Street Fight with the existence of the X Division as a whole on the line. In addition, their win put a requirement on Brother's Ray and D-Von that they had to get their weight below 275 pounds in order to compete.[14]

In April 2008 they returned to Ring of Honor, losing to the Age of the Fall (Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs) and defeating the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) on the 18th and 19th respectively.[15][16]

[edit] In wrestling

  • Signature gestures
    • Pointing to their right palm with their left hand, roughly corresponding to Detroit's location on a map of Michigan
    • A combination of Shelley's "hand over head" and Sabin's finger gun gestures

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • All American Wresting
    • AAW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[9]

[edit] Notes and references

  • ^ Motor City, Murder City, and Machine Guns have been variously written as one and two words
  1. ^ a b Chris Sabin. Star Bios. TNAWrestling. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  2. ^ a b Alex Shelley. Star Bios. TNAWrestling. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  3. ^ a b NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title. Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
  4. ^ Pro Wrestling Guerilla results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. “February 24, 2007 [...] Holy Diver Down [...]Motorcity Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) b Chris Bosh & Scott Lost”
  5. ^ TNA also pulls its talent from PWG. press release. Pro Wresting Guerrilla. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  6. ^ a b "June 21, 2007". TNA Today. 2007-06-21.
  7. ^ RESULTS FROM SUNDAY’S VICTORY ROAD PAY-PER-VIEW. TNA Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
  8. ^ "May 31, 2007". TNA Today. 2007-05-31.
  9. ^ a b All American Wrestling Champions. AAWrestling. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  10. ^ iMPACT! results - July 1, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  11. ^ iMPACT! results - July 15, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  12. ^ iMPACT results - December 6, 2007. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  13. ^ iMPACT results - January 24, 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  14. ^ Against All Odds results - 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  15. ^ Ring of Honor Results - April 18, 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  16. ^ Ring of Honor Results - April 19, 2008. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  17. ^ "December 5, 2007". TNA Today. 2007-12-05.
  18. ^ Mackinder, Matt. Meltdown another solid TNA compilation. Slam! Sports. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.

[edit] External links

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