Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley (Aka The Motor City Machine Guns) Reportedly Sign With WWE

It's been almost six months since news broke that The Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley, were leaving what had long been considered their home promotion of TNA Wrestling. Now, after a winding road with numerous twists and turns, new reports have finally made it official: Sabin and Shelley have formally signed with WWE. The news was initially broken this week by the Pro Wrestling Nexus outlet, with both Fightful and Pro Wrestling Insider providing confirmation late Friday night, citing WWE sources.

Neither Fightful nor PWI confirmed the Guns' brand destination or debut date, but PWN claims they are headed to "WWE NXT" and could debut as early as the show's premiere on The CW Network on October 1. This aligns with reporting from Dave Meltzer in Friday's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who also said Sabin & Shelley were on their way to "NXT."

The Guns left TNA back in March, with many fans assuming they would sign a deal with All Elite Wrestling. An April report from Bodyslam claimed they had indeed decided on AEW and that a signing was imminent, but it never materialized and the Guns never appeared on AEW programming — their only AEW match took place at All Out 2022. In July, both Meltzer and Fightful reporter Sean Ross Sapp indicated that the Guns hadn't signed with AEW after all and were in fact heading to WWE, but this week's news is the first confirmation. Fightful's report claims there had been some creative talks between the Guns and AEW, but nothing ended up coming together.