Two Former World Champions Leave TNA Wrestling

These two major TNA favourites will become free agents next week.

Chris Sabin Alex Shelley Motor City Machine Guns
TNA Wrestling

Following speculation last week, it appears that the Motor City Machine Guns have indeed left TNA Wrestling.

As per Fightful Select and PWInsider, this past weekend's TNA tapings in Philadelphia saw a backstage sendoff for Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, with this said to be an "emotional scene" as these two TNA mainstays become free agents as of 1 April. The Motor City Machine Guns final match for the Anthem promotion will air next month, where they'll challenge Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers for the TNA Tag Team Championships.

Some within TNA are saying that MCMG are done with TNA "for now", although as to be expected, there is a belief that the tandem will obviously have no shortage of suitors once they hit the free agency market. Either way, the door has been left open for Sabin and Shelley to return to TNA at some point in the future.

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Both Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley have been long-term fixtures of TNA/IMPACT over the years, with Sabin debuting for the promotion in 2003 before Shelley arrived a year later. The pair would first start tagging up for the likes of ROH and PWG in 2006, and would bring that tag team - the Motor City Machine Guns - to TNA in 2007.

Across the subsequent 17 years, the Motor City Machine Guns have been hugely successful in TNA and beyond, being viewed as one of the greatest tandems of the modern era. That success has also seen both Sabin and Shelley become the TNA World Champion, in addition to three runs as TNA Tag Team Champions, one spell as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, one stint as ROH Champions, and 11 TNA X Division Title runs between them.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.