The Motor City Machine Guns have wasted no time finding their next opportunity after being released by WWE on Friday as part of the company’s post-WrestleMania roster cuts. Less than 24 hours after Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley’s releases were confirmed, NJPW’s Robbie Eagles issued a direct challenge to the Motor City Machine Guns for a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Eagles and Kosei Fujita had just won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at NJPW’s Wrestling Redzone when Eagles cut his post-match backstage promo that directly addressed Sabin and Shelley. “I saw some news earlier today — some people I know in this industry lost their jobs across the pond. So how about this: Ichiban Sweet Boys, third time, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions versus Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Motor City Machine Guns. I know you guys want it. We’re here, ready. So come and get it. Because you guys may have innovated that division, but we are the mighty, and the mighty don’t kneel,” Eagles said.
Motor City Machine Guns Are Former One-Time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions From Their 2009 Reign
Sabin and Shelley previously held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for 182 days in 2009 — making a potential third match with the Eagles and Fujita team a championship reunion with genuine historical roots. The Motor City Machine Guns joined WWE in fall 2024 and quickly won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships before losing them and barely featuring on television in their final months with the company, having only two television matches since November. Their release opens up one of the more intriguing free agent situations in professional wrestling given their reputation as one of the greatest tag teams of their generation.
