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 | 435 lb (197 kg)[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 and Sabin.
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 and 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 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 opponents—both in matches and promos.[10][11] During the feud, for which Sabin and Shelley were joined by the X Division Champion Jay Lethal while Johnny Devine was put eith Team 3D, the heels first 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 title and the future of the X Division on the line with the stipulations that, should Brother's Ray and D-Von lose the match, they must get their weight below 275 pounds.[14]
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature maneuvers
- ASCS Rush[15] (Spinning sole kick by Sabin followed by a superkick from Shelley and finished with a simultaneous jumping enzuigiri by Sabin / superkick by Shelley combo)
- Bullet Point (Baseball slide (Shelley) followed by a Hesitation Dropkick (Sabin) to on an opponent held in the tree of woe position)
- Springboard dropkick (Sabin) into a reverse STO (Shelley)
- Standing shiranui (Shelley) using Sabin's hands for elevation
- Powerbomb (Sabin) / Double knee backbreaker (Shelley) combination
- Double and stereo enzuigiris to one or two opponents respectively
- Poetry in Motion
- Spinning leg sweep (Sabin) / spinning heel-kick (Shelley) combination
- Sit-out inverted powerslam (Shelley) into a Cutter (Sabin)
- 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)[9]
- FSM (Fighting Spirit Magazine)
- Miracle Violence Connection award in 2007
- Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX
- ZERO-1 MAX International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time, current)[3]
- TNA Wrestling
- 2007 Tag Team Of The Year
Notes and references
- ^ Motor City, Murder City, and Machine Guns have been variously written as one and two words
- ^ 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. 2007-06-21.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "RESULTS FROM SUNDAY'S VICTORY ROAD PAY-PER-VIEW". TNA Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
- ^ "May 31, 2007". TNA Today. 2007-05-31.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "All American Wrestling Champions". AAWrestling. 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.
- ^ "iMPACT results - December 6, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ^ "iMPACT results - January 24, 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ^ "Against All Odds results - 2008". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
- ^ "December 5, 2007". 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.