Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Made In Detroit: A Motor City Machine Guns Appreciation

Tag team perfection
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com
There are good things about TNA. I know that, depending on who or what you read, this idea might seem bizarre. But it's truthful. The other thing about those good things is that, by and large, they are accidents. TNA plans for something, and it usually turns into crap. The World X Cup was awesome, largely because of TEAM MEXICO~! (That's another article for another day.) Monty Brown was the kind of kinetic, explosively charismatic babyface that would have done monster numbers during the territory days. But perhaps the greatest example of this can be found in those handsome men above this paragraph.

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were just sort of floundering along, doing god knows what, and then someone said "Why don't we make them a tag team? I mean, we're not doing much else with them. This might be interesting." And immediately, MAGIC. Shelley and Sabin teamed together in Japan and in UWA Hardcore in Canada, largely because when you have two guys on your roster from the same place teaming them together seems like a good idea. And almost immediately, they seemed different from most of the other tag teams on the roster. Because they seemed like a team, instead of two individuals thrown together.

For emphasis, being a team isn't about snazzy double-team maneuvers or having matching ring gear. It's more ephemeral than that. It's the way that, for instance, the Wyatts feel more like a team than Big Show and Mark Henry do. And there is no team in the past five years that has topped that. The Usos are your closest bet, and they can't meet that standard only because they work under a much more regimented structure than what the Guns were able to do in TNA.

This isn't an exhaustive list of why I love this tag team that really, if we're being honest, was in their prime from 2007-2010. It was because they managed, at least to my opinion, to make even their "signature" spots seem like they weren't forced. It's a blast to watch the Motor City Machine Guns, even now when their best work is only on YouTube. Hopefully, this has encouraged you to seek their best work out.