Motor City Machine Guns are heading toward free agency, and the early indications are that All Elite Wrestling could be their next destination.
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley will be out of their WWE contracts in July following the company’s post-WrestleMania roster cuts on April 24. According to Fightful, TNA sources have indicated there is always a home for the team there, but the expectation among those sources is that AEW will ultimately be where the duo lands. No contact between AEW and Motor City Machine Guns has been confirmed at this stage.
The history between the team and AEW makes the speculation logical. AEW made Motor City Machine Guns an offer in 2024 before WWE matched it and signed the pair. That prior interest suggests the door in Jacksonville was never fully closed, even after the team spent less than a year in WWE.
Those within WWE who spoke to Fightful described Sabin and Shelley as aware that opportunities would continue to exist for them outside the company and comfortable with their future. The duo expressed some disappointment at not having wrestled more during their WWE tenure, though they acknowledged they had been used at least consistently for a period before their workload slowed in recent months. They were not planned for travel to last week’s SmackDown tapings.
Sabin and Shelley joined WWE in the fall of 2024 and won the WWE Tag Team Championships in just their second match with the company.