Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
The Motor City Machine Guns finally made their WWE debuts on last night’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown with an impressive showing that puts them one match away from fighting for the WWE Tag Team Championships already. If they are able to beat #DIY next week, capturing the tag titles on match #3 becomes a major possibility. But they will have their work cut out for them as The Bloodline is a force to be reckoned with and a top priority in terms of storytelling prowess in the company.
Whether or not they win the tag titles in a few weeks doesn’t mean they can’t win them in the future. But on top of that, we’ve seen Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin hold other singles gold in TNA Wrestling, including the top prize of the company. Is that something that is within reach for them? Could they be midcard champions, at least? Are the tag titles the only thing realistic, or is even that something you’d consider a stretch?
My question for you today is “What do you think the ceiling is for Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin in WWE?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
The Motor City Machine Guns have always been an act that I was fond of, despite not being an avid TNA viewer. Every time I’ve watched them perform over the years, though, I’ve thought that they were enjoyable in the ring. Seeing that they would go on to have good singles careers and still remain a top tag team was neat, and I’m glad they had their success.
With that in mind, I hate to look at things with a glass being half empty, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect they’ll have the same level of success in WWE.
It just isn’t feasible that even under Paul Levesque, guys of their stature and age who aren’t known for being the most charismatic “give them the mic and they’ll tear anyone down” talkers would be able to break out into a gold rush of every type of title out there, nor have the time frame to achieve those goals over many years by sheer longevity.
No doubt, WWE is happy to have them, probably wanted them for a while, and will take care of them. I fully expect there to be a tag team title reign earmarked for them in the next year, even though I think they’ll get screwed out of their title win from the first shot and won’t capture these belts until at least after WrestleMania 41.
I can’t picture Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga dropping those titles to anyone other than The Usos. Maybe that’s not what WWE has in store, but that makes the most sense to me above everything else to a level that I’m willing to bet the house on it. Unfortunately, that means anyone else just simply doesn’t win the titles, unless they drop them right back, and I don’t think WWE will do that to MCMG.
It’s a shame they didn’t join the Raw roster instead. There, I think they could have beaten The Judgment Day at any moment, as Finn Balor and JD McDonagh aren’t in any invulnerable spot. They could easily lose those titles, the division could move on without them, and The Judgment Day could continue to be a prominent faction that just doesn’t revolve around those belts.
Sometime in 2025, MCMG will win either the Raw or SmackDown tag team titles. I’m betting more on Raw. After that, they could have any number of other reigns with those belts and I likely wouldn’t blink an eye. Once you’ve won a title, you can win it again and it isn’t too shocking outside of some particular timing scenarios.
But I don’t think we’ll see a midcard or world title for either of them unless they end up going down to NXT. There, either of them being North American or NXT champion wouldn’t feel like a complete shocker to me. But given how much more protected WWE has been of the four main men’s titles on the red and blue brands, with folks like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, and so on being the only champions, I just can’t see Shelley or Sabin reaching that level. It hasn’t even happened for the midcard titles for Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Grayson Waller, or several others who were held in high regard. That would be like skipping the line.
With that being said, I’m very excited to see their full potential realized, and I think they’re an awesome tag team and even singles additions to the WWE roster, and I hope that they prove my prediction wrong and go on to have great careers in this company not just in the tag team division, but on their own, too.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!