Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (2006–2007) Shelley and Sabin first started teaming in
Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max in 2006, winning the
Zero-1 Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from
Minoru Fujita and
Ikuto Hidaka on August 25. They held the title for almost two years before dropping them back to Fujita and his new partner
Takuya Sugawara. and
Murder City Machine Guns, respectively. The team's work for other companies eventually ended when their main employer,
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), requested their wrestlers stop taking bookings with certain independent promotions.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2012) Debut and feud with Team 3D (2007–2008) It was not until April 2007 that the team debuted in TNA, where they had previously been singles wrestlers in the company's
X Division. After briefly working together while wrestling as opponents in an
Xscape match at the annual
Lockdown pay-per-view they became regulars in the tag team division. Initially using the Murder City name, the team's moniker was later changed to the more "
PG" Motor City. After Shelley and Sabin had teamed for a few weeks in TNA,
Kevin Nash—who had a history with both men and was also a Detroit native—was brought in as their
manager, ending his previous alliances with
Jay Lethal and
Sonjay Dutt in the process, The following month at
Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns surprised Team 3D and defeated them in a tag team match. Later in the event Ray and Devon, embarrassed by their loss, attacked the
X Division Champion Jay Lethal and his number one contender
Sonjay Dutt after their match and declared a war on the X Division as a whole, During the feud, Team 3D awarded the stolen X Division Championship to Devine, before Devine won the title outright. The two teams faced off in an
Ultimate X match for the title at
Final Resolution. Prior to the pay-per-view, it was claimed that Ray and Devon were too heavy to support themselves on the cables, so they "broke" Sabin and Shelley's fingers, making them unable to climb. Team 3D won this match by using a ladder to get Devon up to the title belt (which broke the "unwritten rule" of the match). At
Against All Odds, Sabin, Shelley, and Lethal won a
Street Fight with the existence of the X Division as a whole (excluding Devine) on the line. Sabin and Shelley were beaten off early in the match, essentially making it a handicap match of Team 3D against Lethal. As agreed in the pre–match stipulations, the win resulted in Lethal being given back the X Division title and the members of Team 3D essentially being disqualified from future matches until they could all drop their weight below super heavyweight status. They were members of
Team TNA alongside
Kaz and
Curry Man in the 2008 edition of the
TNA World X Cup, but lost to
Team Mexico at
Victory Road. They then slipped into the role of
tweeners, showing disrespect to
Christian Cage,
A.J. Styles,
Consequences Creed,
B.G. James and The
Latin American Xchange however still being cheered heavily by the fans and showing respect for the fans.
Various storylines (2008–2010) On the October 30 episode of Impact!, The Machine Guns along with A.J. Styles,
Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed,
Petey Williams,
Eric Young and
ODB formed a faction of younger wrestlers called The TNA Front Line to oppose
The Main Event Mafia. At
Turning Point, Shelley and Sabin received a shot at the
TNA World Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by the champions
Beer Money, Inc. (
Robert Roode and
James Storm), after their manager
Jacqueline interfered in the match. Earlier in the evening they disrespected
Mick Foley as he was addressing the TNA originals backstage. At
Genesis, Shelley defeated Sabin in the finals of a tournament to become the new
TNA X Division Champion. At
Destination X, Shelley lost his X Division title to Suicide in an
Ultimate X match that also involved Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin. The Guns and Lethal Consequences spent the next few months unsuccessfully trying to unmask Suicide, initially also claiming that he is
Daniels. On the August 6 episode of
Impact!, Shelley and Sabin both turned
face once again aligning themselves with Daniels against World Elite when an all out brawl broke out in the Impact! Zone. In September Shelley and Sabin began appearing as occasional commentators alongside
Mike Tenay and
Taz on
Impact! broadcasts. At
Bound for Glory the duo won the pre–show match against Lethal Consequences, and immediately afterwards competed in the Ultimate X match for the X Division Championship which was won by champion
Amazing Red. On the following episode of
Impact!, they won a tag team Ultimate X match against Lethal Consequences when Sabin retrieved the X, to become #1 contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championships and challenged the champions
British Invasion (
Doug Williams and
Brutus Magnus) at
Turning Point. On the November 12 episode of
Impact! Beer Money, Inc. defeated the British Invasion in a non–title match to join the Motor City Machine Guns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point. At the pay-per-view The British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin and Beer Money, Inc. in a three–way match to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship. The following month at
Final Resolution the British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin to once again retain their title. At
Destination X the Machine Guns defeated
Generation Me (Jeremy Buck and Max Buck) in an Ultimate X match to earn another shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Shelley and Sabin received their title shot on the April 12 episode of
Impact!, but were defeated by World Tag Team Champion
Matt Morgan and Amazing Red, who replaced the injured
Hernandez in the match.
World Tag Team Championship reign (2010–2011) belts, after defeating
Beer Money, Inc. in an
Ultimate X match The following month at
Sacrifice the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. and Team 3D in a three–way match to earn another shot at the Tag Team Championship. On July 11 at
Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. to win the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. After Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns entered a Best of Five Series with Beer Money, Inc., contested for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Beer Money won the first two matches, a
ladder match and a Street Fight, after knocking their opponents out with beer bottles. However, Shelley and Sabin came back to win the two following matches, a
steel cage match and an Ultimate X match, to even the score to 2–2 and set up a deciding match for the August 12 episode of
Impact!. On the August 12 episode of
Impact! the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a
Two Out of Three Falls match to win the Best of Five Series and retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. The following month at
No Surrender, the Motor City Machine Guns retained their title in a match against Generation Me. After the match Generation Me turned heel by attacking the Machine Guns and injuring Shelley. On the following episode of
Impact! Generation Me laid claim to the TNA World Tag Team Championship, claiming that the champions wouldn't be able to defend them for 30 days, due to Shelley's injury, before stealing Sabin's title belt. Shelley would however make his return two weeks later and promised Generation Me a rematch for the World Tag Team Championship at
Bound for Glory. At the pay–per–view the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Also at Bound for Glory, Team 3D announced their retirement from professional wrestling, but requested one final match against the Motor City Machine Guns, whom they called the best tag team in wrestling. After Jeremy Buck pinned Sabin in an eight-person tag team match, where the Motor City Machine Guns teamed with Jay Lethal and
Velvet Sky and Generation Me with
Robbie E and
Cookie, on the November 18 episode of
Impact!, the Motor City Machine Guns challenged Generation Me to an
Empty Arena match. The match took place later that same night on
Reaction with the Motor City Machine Guns coming out victorious. On December 5 at
Final Resolution the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me in a
Full Metal Mayhem match to retain the World Tag Team Championship. The following month at
Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Beer Money, Inc., after Roode rolled up Sabin, following a miscommunication between the Machine Guns, ending their reign at 182 days, two days short of the longest reign in the title's history. The Motor City Machine Guns received their rematch for the title on the January 13 episode of
Impact!, but lost again due to a miscommunication. For the next three months, the Motor City Machine Guns went inactive, as Shelley suffered a collarbone injury and Sabin returned to the X Division. On the April 28 episode of
Impact!, Shelley made his return, saving Sabin from a beatdown at the hands of
Mexican America (
Anarquia and Hernandez). Ironically, the same day Shelley made his return, Sabin suffered a knee injury in his match with Anarquia, who was out of position causing Sabin to tear both his ACL and MCL. Later that same week, Sabin underwent knee surgery, which would sideline him for the rest of the year.
Return (2012) On March 18, 2012, at
Victory Road, TNA aired a video, promoting the upcoming return of the Motor City Machine Guns. The Motor City Machine Guns returned on the April 5 episode of
Impact Wrestling, defeating Mexican America in a tag team match, before announcing their intention of going for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, held by Magnus and Samoa Joe. On April 15 at
Lockdown, the Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged Magnus and Joe for the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a steel cage match. During the next month, the Motor City Machine Guns did not make another appearance on
Impact Wrestling, instead wrestling exclusively on TNA
house shows. On May 21, it was reported that Shelley had chosen not to renew his contract with TNA, instead leaving the promotion and disbanding the Motor City Machine Guns.
Ring of Honor (2007–2008) On March 30, 2007, in their hometown of Detroit, Shelley and Sabin made their ROH debut as a team under the name The Murder City Machine Guns by challenging and then attacking
Jay Briscoe after he and his brother
Mark, who had injured himself during the match, had won back the
ROH World Tag Team Championship from
Naruki Doi and
Shingo. On April 28 in Chicago, IL, at
Good Times, Great Memories The Briscoe Brothers successfully defended their tag team title against Shelley and Sabin. After the event TNA pulled all of their wrestlers from any upcoming ROH shows. In April 2008 Shelley and Sabin returned to Ring of Honor, losing to
the Age of the Fall (
Tyler Black and
Jimmy Jacobs) and defeating the Briscoe Brothers on the 18th and 19th respectively. They returned to Ring of Honor in August 2008. On August 1 in Manassas, VA they fought
Austin Aries and
Bryan Danielson to a 20-minute time limit draw and then a 5-minute overtime draw. The next day in New York City they were defeated by
Kevin Steen and El Generico when Steen forced Sabin to submit to the
Sharpshooter. The team was scheduled to return to ROH on October 24 and 25, but were pulled from the events by TNA and replaced by the Latin American Xchange.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2009–2010) 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 NJPW's
Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul. On November 8, 2010, NJPW 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.
Return to ROH (2010, 2016–2018) On February 13, 2010, Ring of Honor announced at their 8th Anniversary Show that the Motor City Machine Guns would return to the company on May 8 in New York City. On May 8, the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by the ROH World Tag Team Champions
The Kings of Wrestling (
Chris Hero and
Claudio Castagnoli) via disqualification, when the Briscoe Brothers interfered in the match. On February 26, 2016, at the
14th Anniversary Show, Sabin and Shelley re-formed the Motor City Machine Guns, when the former turned on his Knights of the Rising Dawn (KRD) stablemate Christopher Daniels, helping Shelley defeat him in a singles match. At the following day's
Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Sabin and Shelley defeated Daniels and Frankie Kazarian,
The Addiction, in their return match. This led to the two unsuccessfully challenging The Addiction for the ROH World Tag Team Championship on June 24 at
Best in the World '16. On September 30 at
All Star Extravaganza VIII, the Motor City Machine Guns took part in a three-way ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, which was won by
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and also included The Addiction. Sabin and Shelley then formed a stable named "Search and Destroy" with
Jay White,
Jonathan Gresham and
Lio Rush. On September 22, 2017, at
Death Before Dishonor XV, the Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Young Bucks to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time. They would retain the titles until March 9, 2018, when they lost them against The Briscoe Brothers at ROH 16th Anniversary Show. In June, Shelley suffered an injury. On July 20, 2018, Shelley left the promotion and retired from active competition, disbanding the tag team.
Return to NJPW (2016) 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 for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Return to Impact Wrestling / TNA Wrestling (2020–2024) On July 18, 2020, at
Slammiversary, Motor City Machine Guns returned to Impact Wrestling and defeated
The Rascalz (
Zachary Wentz and
Dezmond Xavier) after answering their open challenge. On the following episode of
Impact Wrestling, they defeated
The North to capture the
Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time in over ten years and second time overall, ending The North's record-setting 383 day reign. After retaining the titles against The North in a rematch and against The Rascalz, they would lose the titles back to the North at
Bound for Glory in a Fatal Four way tag team match after Shelley was attacked before the match and Sabin was left alone to defend the championships. With Shelley out of commission for the next two months, James Storm would fill in as Sabin's partner, defeating XXXL (
Acey Romero and
Larry D) at
Turning Point on November 14. After Shelley returned to action on the December 1 episode of
Impact!, resuming the team with another victory over XXXL, The Guns were scheduled to team up with
Rich Swann to face
Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers at
Hard To Kill on January 16, 2021, but Shelley
legitimately had to back out due to "unavoidable circumstances", later revealed in that his outside career as a physical therapist required him to step away from wrestling for the time being until he was able to get the
COVID-19 vaccine.
Moose would replace Shelley in the match at
Hard to Kill, and Storm would be brought back to occasionally team with Sabin through the early months of 2021 as The Guns quietly disbanded for the third time. Later, in September 2021, Shelley announced that he left Impact, but was open to returning at a later time. On the March 10, 2022, episode of
Impact!, the Motor City Machine Guns reunited as Sabin came out to back Shelley in his feud with their former protégé
Jay White, leading to a match scheduled against White and
Chris Bey on the March 17 episode.
Second return to NJPW (2022–2023) After defeating the
Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions,
Aussie Open on the September 15th episode of
Impact!, Sabin and Shelley made their return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling at
Rumble on 44th Street on October 28. At the event, the duo defeated Aussie Open to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, in a three-way match, also involving
The DKC and Kevin Knight. The duo retained the titles in February at
Battle in the Valley, defeating the
West Coast Wrecking Crew (
Royce Isaacs and
Jorel Nelson). On April 15 at
Capital Collision, the duo lost the titles back to Aussie Open in a three-way tag-team match also involving the team of
Kazuchika Okada and
Hiroshi Tanahashi. At
Destruction In Ryōgoku, the duo teamed with
Josh Alexander to unsuccessfully challeng Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and
Tomohiro Ishii for the
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
All Elite Wrestling (2022) On the August 24, 2022, episode of
Dynamite,
Sonjay Dutt announced that
Jay Lethal would team with the Motor City Machine Guns at the
All Out PPV, where they would take on
Wardlow and
FTR in a six-man tag-team match, with Sabin and Shelley set to make their
All Elite Wrestling debut. At the event, Wardlow and FTR would win the match, with assistance from
Samoa Joe, who attacked
Satnam Singh early in the match.
WWE (2024–2026) In September 2024, it was reported that Shelley and Sabin signed with
WWE. They made their debut on the
SmackDown brand on October 18 on a qualifying match against
A-Town Down Under (
Grayson Waller and
Austin Theory) and
Los Garza (
Angel and
Berto), and won the
WWE Tag Team Championship the following week after they defeated
#DIY (
Johnny Gargano and
Tommaso Ciampa), and then
the champions,
Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, in consecutive matches after the interference from
Jey Uso. On the November 15 episode of
SmackDown, Shelley and Sabin defended the titles against
The Street Profits (
Angelo Dawkins and
Montez Ford), but the match ended in a no contest after Ciampa attacked both teams. On the December 6 episode of
SmackDown, Shelley and Sabin lost the titles to DIY after Gargano hit Sabin with a low blow, ending their reign at 42 days. They attempted to regain the titles in a
two-out-of-three falls match on February 1, 2025 at the
Royal Rumble event, but were not successful due to interference from The Street Profits. On the April 25 episode of
SmackDown, they would attempt to regain the titles in a
tables, ladders, and chairs match, where the Street Profits won. On April 24, 2026, it was announced that both Sabin and Shelley had been released by WWE, ending their two-year tenure with the company. ==Championships and accomplishments==