Why The Motor City Machine Guns Have Only Wrestled Once Since Signing With AEW

The Motor City Machine Guns made their full-time AEW debuts to much fanfare in their hometown of Detroit, Michigan, on the July 30 edition of Collision, but the tag team have hardly appeared on All Elite Wrestling TV since then.

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin did appear at AEW All In, making their way to the ring as part of a face-off that ended up featuring AEW World Tag Team Champions Cope & Cage, The Young Bucks, MCMG, FTR, and The New Level. The Machine Guns then wrestled their first match since signing with AEW, ultimately picking up the win over Blake Christian and Lee Johnson of The Swirl on the September 5 episode of Collision.

Shelley and Sabin have not wrestled since then, though, and the reason for their peculiar AEW booking so far comes down to the tag team's own wishes, with Sean Ross Sapp noting on the Fightful Dynamite Review that MCMG told AEW they wanted to finish their music tour first.

"They had made it kind of clear to AEW they wanted to do their tour first. I don't even think they were necessarily that eager to debut on the Detroit episode and AEW were like, 'No, this is where we should debut you,'" Sean Ross Sapp said.

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin formed the band Grpplng in 2025 and Motor City Machine Guns' AEW entrance music is the band's song, 'Sleep.' Alex Shelley is on guitar and vocals for the band, while Sabin plays bass guitar.

It appears Grpplng's final date of their recent shows will be on September 21 when they support The Iron Roses at the Sanctuary Detroit, so they may make more regular appearances for AEW in the near future.