Motor City Machine Guns Make TNA Reference After Winning WWE Debut
The Motor City Machine Guns haven’t forgotten their roots now that they are finally WWE superstars.
When the Motor City Machine Guns duo of Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley made their WWE debuts on SmackDown in Columbia, the commentary team of Corey Graves and Wade Barrett spoke about their past in TNA, which included three reigns at TNA Tag Team Champions.
In years past, that likely never would have happened, but WWE and TNA have had a working relationship in 2024, which has opened the door for talent exchanges and references to a wrestler’s past in TNA.
It was a successful WWE debut for the Motor City Machine Guns since Sabin & Shelley beat Los Garza (Angel & Berto) and A-Town Down Under’s Austin Theory & Grayson Wallerin a tag team triple threat match as part of a mini-tournament.
Thanks to that victory, the Machine Guns are set for a tag team showdown with #DIY’s Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano, who won the other triple threat tag team match on Smackdown.
Whoever wins that match between the Machine Guns and #DIY will get a WWE Tag Team Title match against the champions, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa of The Bloodline.
Motor City Machine Guns Have TNA On Their Mind After WWE Debut
For most of their 20-year wrestling careers, Shelley & Sabin worked for TNA Wrestling. Both men held the TNA World Title while there and Sabin is also a 10-time X-Division Champion in addition to all of their success as a tag team. Other former TNA stars who moved on to WWE in recent years include the likes of AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, and Smackdown GM Nick Aldis as well.
The WWE cameras caught up to Sabin & Shelley on Instagram after their Smackdown victory, which led to these comments that included Shelley using the word “Impact.” The “Impact” name is a TNA thing since that’s the name of their television show and the company was also called “Impact Wrestling” before going back to the TNA name earlier this year.
Chris Sabin: “Very first night. That’s how you do it. That’s how you do it.”
Alex Shelley: “I might even say… that’s how you make an Impact!”