Motor City Machine Guns
| 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† |
| Billed heights | Sabin:[1] 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Shelley:[2] 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Combined billed weight | [undue weight? – discuss][1][2] |
| Hometown | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Debut | 2006 |
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, where they hold the ZERO-1 MAX International Lightweight Tag Team Championship. 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, Sabin, and their former manager Kevin Nash.
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 and have held them since.[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 workers stop taking bookings with certain 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 switched to Motor City.[7] The change seemed to be against their wishes, with Shelley stating that "Murder City" was the real name, and "Motor City" was the PG version.[8] After teaming in TNA for a few weeks, Kevin Nash—who already had a history with both Sabin & Shelley—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 in September 2007.[9] In November, when TNA's Team 3D (Brother Ray and Devon) began a feud with the X Division as a whole, Shelley and Sabin became their main opponents—both in matches and promos.[10][11]
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature maneuvers
- ASCS Rush[12] (Spinning sole kick by Sabin followed by a superkick from Shelley and finished with a jumping enzuigiri by Sabin / superkick by Shelley combo)
Double enzuigiri
- Springboard dropkick by Sabin followed into a Shellshock by Shelley
- Assisted standing Shiranui (Shelley steps off of Sabin's hands to hit a standing Shiranui)
- Stereo enzuigiris to two opponents
- Powerbomb (Sabin) / Double knee backbreaker (Shelley) combination
- Baseball slide by Shelley followed by a Hesitation Dropkick from Sabin to on an opponent held in the tree of woe position
- Poetry in Motion
- Drop toe hold by Shelley followed by a jumping elbow drop by Sabin transitioned into a sickle hold by Shelley and then finished with a snap dropkick by Sabin
- Double Hiptoss followed by a double fist drop, both men nip-up followed by stereo kicks to the chest and back of the opponent, now sitting up.
- Leg drop to a prone opponent by Shelley followed by a leg drop to the opponent by Sabin, followed by a double taunt.
- 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
Championships and accomplishments
- All American Wresting
- AAW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current)[9]
- Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX
- ZERO-1 MAX International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time, current)[3]
Notes and references
^ Also Motor City Machine Guns, Motor City Machineguns
- ^ a b "Chris Sabin". Star Bios. TNAWrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ a b "Alex Shelley". Star Bios. TNAWrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ a b "NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ "Pro Wrestling Guerilla results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
February 24, 2007 [...] Holy Diver Down [...]Motorcity Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) b Chris Bosh & Scott Lost
- ^ "TNA also pulls its talent from PWG". press release. Pro Wresting Guerrilla. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
- ^ a b "June 21, 2007". TNA Today. TNA Wrestling.com.
{{cite episode}}: External link in|transcripturl=|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|transcripturl=ignored (|transcript-url=suggested) (help) - ^ "RESULTS FROM SUNDAY'S VICTORY ROAD PAY-PER-VIEW". TNAWrestling.com. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
- ^ "May 31st, 2007". TNA Today. TNA Wrestling.com.
{{cite episode}}: External link in|transcripturl=|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|transcripturl=ignored (|transcript-url=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "All American Wrestling Champions". AAWrestling.com. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ "iMPACT! results - July 1, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "iMPACT! results - July 15, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ "12/5". TNA Today. 2007-12-05.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "TNA Meltdown Vol 2 Product Page". ShopTNA. Retrieved 2007-11-29.