WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who is also All Elite Wrestling’s Director of Business Development, took to an episode of his “My World with Jeff Jarrett” podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including the Motor City Machine Guns’ importance to TNA.
Jarrett said, “I’ve been excited to talk about this topic, because — if you’re a fan of wrestling, to hear these guys stories, and we’re going to get into it. But just kind of a correction right off the top: yes, I was responsible for bringing them in TNA. But they actually formed as a team for the first time I guess officially, it was in Japan. But they had instant chemistry, and that kind of morphed into [what they became]. But man, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were two guys that were — I’ll call them X Division super, super standouts. And so this topic is going to be fun to talk about, to kind of hear how they started, how they got together, and then the success. And really, when you look about the history of — I call it the TNA years, and I know we’re into some new TNA years. And I’m saying that before it became Impact Wrestling. How integral they were to, really, the X Division, and then to the tag division. Those guys, super talented man, super super talented.”
On his first impression of Sabin and Shelley:
“I’ll say the recommendations from him — not only Scott D’Amore but another talent —- they’re like, ‘Yeah, this guy [Shelley]’s pretty damn good. He’s really crisp,’ would be maybe a word. Or, ‘He can do chain wrestling. He can do chain and mat wrestling, and he could just do this style. You ought to take a look at him.’ Those are the type words that I heard. And when you hear it from enough folks — because I’ll say this. When you hear different pitches from different guys, and I heard so many in those early days. This is the thing that can kind of get you, I don’t know, cynical. What’s behind it? Why does this guy want this guy in, and this and that, and what’s the motivation? But Alex and Chris were both guys who had just come highly recommended for their in-ring work. Nothing more, nothing less.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
