The Motor City Machine Guns

Motor City Machine Guns as the Imapact World Tag Team Champions in December 2022

## Tag team

### Members

Alex Shelley
Chris Sabin

### Name(s)

**The Motor City Machine Guns**
Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin

### Billed heights

Sabin:
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Shelley:
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)

### Combined billed weight

420 lb (190 kg)
Sabin: 205 lb (93 kg)
Shelley: 215 lb (98 kg)

### Years active

2006–2012
2016–2018
2020–2021
2022–present

### Promotion(s)

NJPW
ZERO1-MAX
IMPACT/TNA
ROH
AEW

**The Motor City Machine Guns** are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. The team is best known for its work in the American company Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where they are former TNA World Tag Team Champions. Through then TNA's and later Impact Wrestling's relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), the team also works for the Japanese promotion, where they won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the Strong Tag Team Championships.

Originally created in Pro Wrestling Zero1 in 2006, the team name, which has been variably Motor and Murder City, is a play on the nickname of Detroit, the hometown of both Sabin and Shelley. They are widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in Impact Wrestling's history.

Overall they are seven-time World Tag Team Champions, having won the TNA/Impact World Tag Team Championship three times, the ROH World Tag Team Championship once during their stint with Ring of Honor (ROH), a one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, a one-time and current Strong Tag Team Champions and Zero-1's International Lightweight Tag Team Championships. The team disbanded and reunited in several occasions; with most recentely, when Shelley left Impact in Sepetember 2021 before returning on March 10, of the next year, as part of a feud with the Bullet Club.

## History

### Origins

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. 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 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.

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (2009, 2010, 2016, 2022-present)

On January 4, 2009, Sabin and Shelley defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They became the second *gaijin* team to win the championship after American Dragon and Curry Man. After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Shelley and Sabin lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title to Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) on July 5, 2009, at New Japan Pro Wrestling's *Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul*. On November 8, 2010, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth ever match between the two teams.

On July 31, 2016, NJPW announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion on August 21. In their return match, The Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

In October 2022, the Motor City Machine Guns made their return to NJPW, winning the Strong Tag Team Championship from Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) on October 28 at Rumble on 44th Street, in a three-way match also involving Kevin Knight and The DKC.

## In wrestling

* **Double–team finishing moves**
	+ *ASCS Rush* (Spinning sole kick by Sabin followed by a superkick from Shelley and then finished with a simultaneous jumping enzuigiri by Sabin / Superkick by Shelley combination)
	+ *Made in Detroit* (Sitout powerbomb (Sabin) / *Sliced Bread #2* (Shelley) combination)
	+ *Click, Click, Boom* (Powerbomb (Sabin) / Double knee backbreaker (Shelley) combination – 2006–2007)
	+ *Skull and Bones* (Falling neckbreaker (Sabin) / Diving splash (Shelley) combination)
	+ *Dirty Bomb* (Double elevated lift dropped into a sided Death Valley driver)
* **Double–team signature moves**
	+ Aided dropkick
	+ Aided snap swinging neckbreaker
	+ Aided standing *Sliced Bread #2*
	+ *Air Raid* (Sabin holds an opponent in a fireman's carry while Shelley hits a diving double foot stomp onto the prone opponent followed by Sabin hitting a fireman's carry takeover onto Shelley's knees or the *Cradle Shock*)
	+ Backbreaker hold (Sabin) / Diving knee drop (Shelley) combination
	+ *Bullet Point* (Baseball slide by Shelley followed by a *Hesitation Dropkick* by Sabin to an opponent held in the tree of woe position)
	+ Doomsday dropkick
	+ Double and stereo enzuigiris to one or two opponents respectively
	+ Double superkick to a seated or a kneeling opponent
	+ *Dream Sequence* (Inverted atomic drop by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the knees by Sabin followed by an inverted STF by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the face of the opponent by Sabin)
	+ Irish whip by Sabin into a belly-to-belly suplex by Shelley, suplexing the opponent into his partner held in a tree of woe position
	+ Kneeling side slam by Sabin followed by a frog splash by Shelley
	+ *Motor City Machine Guns Sandwich* (Running arched big boot (Sabin) / Enzuigir (Shelley) combination to a cornered opponent)
	+ Reverse STO (Shelley) / Jumping enzuigiri (Sabin) combination
	+ Simultaneous diving leg drop (Sabin) / diving splash (Shelley) combination
	+ Spinning leg sweep (Sabin) / Spinning wheel kick (Shelley) combination
	+ Springboard dropkick by Sabin into a reverse STO by Shelley
	+ Standing inverted Indian deathlock surfboard by Shelley followed into a springboard diving leg drop to the back of an opponent's head by Sabin
	+ *Thunder Express* (Inverted sitout side powerslam (Shelley) / Running cutter (Sabin) combination)
* **Entrance themes**
	+ **"Motorcity"** by Adam Skaggs (TNA/IMPACT and NJPW)
	+ "All Ghosts to Medicine Counter Four" by Christian Fitness (ROH)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time)
	+ Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship (1 time)
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max**
	+ Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time)

## References

1. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-01-04. 1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan . Wrestleview. Retrieved on 2010-03-31.
2. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-04-02. Spoilers: Impact tapings for 4/9-16 . Wrestleview. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
3. ↑ Golden, Hunter 2009-04-09. Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #19 . Wrestleview. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Keller, Wade 2009-04-19. Keller's TNA Lethal Lockdown PPV report 4/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV event . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
5. ↑ Golden, Hunter 2009-07-08. Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #32 . Wrestleview. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
6. ↑ Kojima vs. Nakamura set! And other big December matches… . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-11-08). Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
7. ↑ (Results) New Japan, 12/11/10 & Liger wins another title in USA . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-12-11). Retrieved on 2010-12-11.
8. ↑ (Results) New Japan, 12/12/10 . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-12-12). Retrieved on 2010-12-12.
9. ↑ 8月21日（日）『Super J-Cup』有明大会でヤングバックスvsモーターシティ！原田＆小峠vs石森＆ACH！ あの初代ミスティコ“カリスティコ”も来日!!【SJ16】  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2016-07-31). Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
10. ↑ Super J-Cup 2016  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-08-21.
11. ↑ "December 5, 2007". *TNA Today*. 2007-12-05.
12. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2009-04-09. Impact Results - 4/9/09 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
13. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2010-07-01. Impact Results - 7/1/10 . Wrestleview. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
14. ↑ Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010-08-12). "TNA Reaction ep. 1". *TNA Reaction*. Season 1. Episode 1. approx. 13 minutes in. Spike.
15. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2010-09-05. TNA No Surrender live match-by-match coverage . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2010-09-05.
16. ↑ Parks, Greg 2009-10-18. Parks' TNA Bound for Glory PPV report 10/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of the pre-game and first hour of the show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-19.
17. ↑ Caldwell's TNA Impact report 4/10: Ongoing coverage of Spike TV show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
18. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `WholeFnShow`
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Great`
20. ↑ TNA Impact Results - 10/30/08 - Orlando, FL . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Impact Results - 5/21/09 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
22. ↑ 8/2 ROH in New York City: Nigel defends ROH Title in four-way match, Pearce vs. Albright for new NWA Title, Marufuji vs. Shiozaki . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
23. ↑ Break It Down: PWG Ninety-Nine . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
24. ↑ Caldwell's TNA Impact report 1/10: Ongoing coverage of Spike TV show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
25. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2009-05-15. Impact Results - 5/14/09 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Boutwell, Josh 2009-05-03. Impact Results - 5/3/10 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
27. ↑ Van Der Griend, Blaine 2010-03-05. Impact: Hulk-a-mania running wild! . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2011-01-11.
28. ↑ Csonka, Larry 2010-03-21. 411’s TNA Destination X Report 3.21.10 . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2010-03-31.
29. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2010-07-08. Impact Results - 7/8/10 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2010-07-09.
30. ↑ My Take On 12.27.07: The Top TNA Matches of 2007 . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
31. ↑ Keller's TNA Impact report 7/16: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, quotebook . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
32. ↑ Impact Results - 2/12/09 . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
33. ↑ Emergence . *Total Nonstop Action Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2009-11-13.
34. ↑ Themes . *Cagematch*. Retrieved on 2016-07-27.
35. ↑ IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history .
36. ↑ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship history . Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.