Mid 20th Century
138-544: The Motor City Machine Guns are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin . They are signed to WWE , where they perform on the SmackDown brand and are the current WWE Tag Team Champions in their first reign . They are best known for their tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The team name is a play on the nickname of Detroit ,
276-463: A Match of 10,000 Tacks at the event, but Rhino ended up being replaced by Raven due to an injury. Abyss and Raven won the contest at Turning Point. Kaz got his TNA World Heavyweight Championship match on the November 15 episode of Impact! against Angle, but failed to win the title. Kaz then went on to team with Booker T in a match against Christian Cage and Robert Roode at Turning Point, which
414-436: A Six Man Tag Team match for TNA's Turning Point PPV event on December 2. Nash and Hall were granted their request, and Samoa Joe later was revealed as their mystery partner for the encounter. Hall ended up no-showing the event, and as a result Eric Young filled his place in the bout, which was won by Joe, Nash, and Young. Team 3D and MCMG continued their rivalry heading into Turning Point, with MCMG now joined by Lethal. On
552-607: A beer drinking contest over what Storm called the "World Beer Drinking Championship". It eventually led to Storm passing out and Young stealing the TNA World Beer Drinking Championship belt. The event opened with a Shop of Horrors match between Abyss and Black Reign , which lasted 10 minutes and 13 seconds. In a Shop of Horrors match, all weapons are legal to use, a wrestler can not be counted out, and it can only be won by pinfall or submission. James Mitchell interfered on Reign's behalf during
690-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
828-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
966-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1104-679: A 20-minute time limit draw and then a 5-minute overtime draw. The next day in New York City they were defeated by Kevin Steen and El Generico when Steen forced Sabin to submit to the Sharpshooter . The team was scheduled to return to ROH on October 24 and 25, but were pulled from the events by TNA and replaced by the Latin American Xchange. On February 13, 2010, Ring of Honor announced at their 8th Anniversary Show that
1242-577: A Best of Five Series with Beer Money, Inc., contested for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Beer Money won the first two matches, a ladder match and a Street Fight, after knocking their opponents out with beer bottles. However, Shelley and Sabin came back to win the two following matches, a steel cage match and an Ultimate X match, to even the score to 2–2 and set up a deciding match for the August 12 episode of Impact! . On
1380-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1518-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
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#17327833154081656-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1794-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
1932-437: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Genesis (2007) The 2007 Genesis was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by
2070-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
2208-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
2346-703: A few weeks in TNA, Kevin Nash —who had a history with both men and was also a Detroit native—was brought in as their manager , ending his previous alliances with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt in the process, though his association with the group was short lived. The team continued to work in independent promotions in parallel with their work in TNA, getting a run with the Illinois–based All American Wrestling 's Tag Team Championship between September 2007 and January 2008. In October 2007 at Bound for Glory
2484-403: A ladder to get Devon up to the title belt (which broke the "unwritten rule" of the match). At Against All Odds , Sabin, Shelley, and Lethal won a Street Fight with the existence of the X Division as a whole (excluding Devine) on the line. Sabin and Shelley were beaten off early in the match, essentially making it a handicap match of Team 3D against Lethal. As agreed in the pre–match stipulations,
2622-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2760-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2898-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
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#17327833154083036-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
3174-507: A padded turnbuckle at 12 minutes and one second. Afterwards, Team 3D attacked Dutt and Lethal, and stole the X Division Championship belt, claiming they were holding it "hostage". Christian's Coalition ( A.J. Styles and Tomko ) defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against The Steiner Brothers in a match lasting 10 minutes and 43 seconds. The pair retained the titles, when Styles pinned Rick following
3312-546: A partner of his choosing. The lead-up to this decision began at TNA's previous PPV event Bound for Glory on October 12. There, Sting defeated Angle to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. On the October 25 episode of Impact! , with help from Nash, Angle defeated Sting to win back the title. Due to the controversial circumstances, Cornette announced that Angle would defend the title in
3450-462: A physical therapist required him to step away from wrestling for the time being until he was able to get the COVID-19 vaccine . Moose would replace Shelley in the match at Hard to Kill , and Storm would be brought back to occasionally team with Sabin through the early months of 2021 as The Guns quietly disbanded for the third time. Later, in September 2021, Shelley announced that he left Impact, but
3588-449: A shot to the groin and a chair shot to the head, neither of which was seen by the referee. The sixth match was between Samoa Joe and Robert Roode, who was accompanied by Ms. Brooks. It lasted 15 minutes and 43 seconds, with Joe becoming the victor after slamming Roode into the mat with his Muscle Buster maneuver. Ms. Brooks legitimately passed out at ringside during the contest, believed to be due to overheating. She recovered later in
3726-548: A tag team match to them. As part of their gimmick they were now described as "TNA Frontline members in name only". At Final Resolution , the Guns were attacked by the debuting Suicide At Genesis , Shelley defeated Sabin in the finals of a tournament to become the new TNA X Division Champion . At Destination X , Shelley lost his X Division title to Suicide in an Ultimate X match that also involved Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin. The Guns and Lethal Consequences spent
3864-538: A tag team match, in which the person that got the pinfall or submission would win the title. The 2007 Fight for the Right Tournament was held in the weeks prior to the Genesis PPV event. It was an eight-man single-elimination tournament to decide the number contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. It began at Bound for Glory, where a 16-man reverse battle royal was held to determine
4002-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
4140-414: A vacant spot in the tournament, which was filled later in the episode when Christian Cage defeated Samoa Joe . Kaz defeated Hoyt, Storm defeated Young, and Fatu defeated Roode in the remaining quarterfinal matches, which took place on the 18 and 25 episodes, respectively. The semi-finals were held on the November 1 episode of Impact! , where Kaz defeated Storm, and Cage defeated Chris Harris —who
4278-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
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4416-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
4554-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
4692-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
4830-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
4968-735: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship once each. Shelley and Sabin first started teaming in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max in 2006, winning the Zero-1 Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Minoru Fujita and Ikuto Hidaka on August 25. They held the title for almost two years before dropping them back to Fujita and his new partner Takuya Sugawara . In
5106-543: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . They became the second gaijin team to win the championship after American Dragon and Curry Man . After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Shelley and Sabin lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title to Apollo 55 ( Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi ) on July 5, 2009, at NJPW's Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul . On November 8, 2010, NJPW announced that
5244-556: The Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time in over ten years and second time overall, ending The North's record-setting 383 day reign. After retaining the titles against The North in a rematch and against The Rascalz, they would lose the titles back to the North at Bound for Glory in a Fatal Four way tag team match after Shelley was attacked before the match and Sabin was left alone to defend
5382-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
5520-500: The Pro Wrestling Torch gave the main event two and 1/4 stars out of five, and stated he felt it "wasn't anything special"; however, he felt Booker T looked "refreshed and full of spunk". He believed the ladder match was a "really good spectacle match" and gave it three and a half stars. James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch gave the main event two stars out of five, while the ladder match three and 3/4 stars. He felt
5658-589: The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion , which took place on November 11, 2007, at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida . It was the third event under the Genesis chronology, the last held in the month of November, and the eleventh event of the 2007 TNA PPV schedule. Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card , four of which were for championships. The main event
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5796-542: The X Division Champion Jay Lethal and his number one contender Sonjay Dutt after their match and declared a war on the X Division as a whole, demanding that the entire X Division and all the members therein be disbanded and removed from TNA. The entire feud focused mainly upon Team 3D (including a new member in Johnny Devine , who was dubbed "Brother Devine") against the Machine Guns and Jay Lethal. During
5934-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
6072-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
6210-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
6348-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
6486-509: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
6624-458: The April 28 episode of Impact! , Shelley made his return, saving Sabin from a beatdown at the hands of Mexican America ( Anarquia and Hernandez). Ironically, the same day Shelley made his return, Sabin suffered a knee injury in his match with Anarquia, who was out of position causing Sabin to tear both his ACL and MCL. Later that same week, Sabin underwent knee surgery, which would sideline him for
6762-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
6900-549: The August 12 episode of Impact! the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a Two Out of Three Falls match to win the Best of Five Series and retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. The following month at No Surrender , the Motor City Machine Guns retained their title in a match against Generation Me. After the match Generation Me turned heel by attacking the Machine Guns and injuring Shelley. On
7038-478: The August 24, 2022, episode of Dynamite , Sonjay Dutt announced that Jay Lethal would team with the Motor City Machine Guns at the All Out PPV, where they would take on Wardlow and FTR in a six-man tag-team match, with Sabin and Shelley set to make their All Elite Wrestling debut. At the event, Wardlow and FTR would win the match, with assistance from Samoa Joe , who attacked Satnam Singh early in
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#17327833154087176-409: The Machine Guns, ending their reign at 182 days, two days short of the longest reign in the title's history. The Motor City Machine Guns received their rematch for the title on the January 13 episode of Impact! , but lost again due to a miscommunication. For the next three months, the Motor City Machine Guns went inactive, as Shelley suffered a collarbone injury and Sabin returned to the X Division. On
7314-481: The March 2, 2023 episode of Impact , The Motor City Machine Guns lost their titles to Bullet Club members Ace Austin and Chris Bey, ending their reign at 78 days. On the March 23, 2024 tapings for TNA Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns, wrestled their final match for TNA in a losing effort against The System ( Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers ), as both Shelley and Sabin's contracts expired on April 1, 2024. On
7452-481: The Motor City Machine Guns coming out victorious. On December 5 at Final Resolution the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me in a Full Metal Mayhem match to retain the World Tag Team Championship. The following month at Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Beer Money, Inc., after Roode rolled up Sabin, following a miscommunication between
7590-443: The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Also at Bound for Glory, Team 3D announced their retirement from professional wrestling, but requested one final match against the Motor City Machine Guns, whom they called the best tag team in wrestling. The Motor City Machine Guns accepted and the match took place on November 7, 2010, at Turning Point , where they defeated Team 3D to retain
7728-699: The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Young Bucks to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time. They would retain the titles until March 9, 2018, when they lost them against The Briscoe Brothers at ROH 16th Anniversary Show. In June, Shelley suffered an injury. On July 20, 2018, Shelley left the promotion and retired from active competition, disbanding the tag team. On January 4, 2009, Sabin and Shelley defeated No Limit ( Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro ) at New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome to win
7866-421: The Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged Magnus and Joe for the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a steel cage match. During the next month, the Motor City Machine Guns did not make another appearance on Impact Wrestling , instead wrestling exclusively on TNA house shows . On May 21, it was reported that Shelley had chosen not to renew his contract with TNA, instead leaving the promotion and disbanding
8004-409: The Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth ever match between the two teams. On July 31, 2016, NJPW announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to
8142-589: The Motor City Machine Guns would return to the company on May 8 in New York City. On May 8, the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling ( Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli ) via disqualification, when the Briscoe Brothers interfered in the match. On February 26, 2016, at the 14th Anniversary Show , Sabin and Shelley re-formed the Motor City Machine Guns, when
8280-678: The Motor City Machine Guns. On March 30, 2007, in their hometown of Detroit, Shelley and Sabin made their ROH debut as a team under the name The Murder City Machine Guns by challenging and then attacking Jay Briscoe after he and his brother Mark , who had injured himself during the match, had won back the ROH World Tag Team Championship from Naruki Doi and Shingo . On April 28 in Chicago, IL, at Good Times, Great Memories The Briscoe Brothers successfully defended their tag team title against Shelley and Sabin. After
8418-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
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#17327833154088556-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
8694-573: The November 1 episode of Impact! that the two would face in a bout at Genesis. The event featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches. There were four overall commentators for the event; Mike Tenay and Don West provided English commentary, while Hector Guerrero and Willie Urbina served as the Spanish announce team. David Penzer was the ring announcer for the event, while Earl Hebner , Rudy Charles , Mark "Slick" Johnson , and Andrew Thomas participated as referees for
8832-572: The November 15 episode of Impact! , Johnny Devine , an X Division wrestler, betrayed and attacked MCMG and Lethal, joining Team 3D in the process. This led to the six meeting in a Six Man Tag Team Tables match at Turning Point. Team 3D and Devine went on to win the contest. The mystery wrestler revealed after the Shop of Horrors match at Genesis was soon after dubbed Rellik. Abyss, now joined by Rhino , went on to feud with both Reign and Rellik leading into Turning Point. The four were promoted to fight in
8970-417: The Right Tournament, injuring them in the plot, which led to a spot being vacant. Afterwards, they stated they were going to destroy the X Division , for which MCMG belonged. On the November 1 episode of Impact! , MCMG returned from injury and attacked Team 3D. Afterwards, Shelley challenged Team 3D to a fight at Genesis, which was later made official by TNA. Joe versus Roode was another featured contest on
9108-452: The Shop of Horrors match. MCMG fought Team 3D in a match that lasted 17 minutes and 37 seconds. MCMG won the contest, after the pair performed their ASCS Rush combination on Ray, which involves a series of kicks to the head and midsection, to gain the pinfall. The TNA Women's World Championship was defended in a Four Way match involving then-champion Gail Kim , Roxxi Laveaux , ODB , and Angel Williams . VKM accompanied Roxxi Laveaux to
9246-643: The TNA Tag Team Championship. The following month at Final Resolution the British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin to once again retain their title. At Destination X the Machine Guns defeated Generation Me (Jeremy Buck and Max Buck) in an Ultimate X match to earn another shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Shelley and Sabin received their title shot on the April 12 episode of Impact! , but were defeated by World Tag Team Champion Matt Morgan and Amazing Red, who replaced
9384-409: The TNA World Tag Team Championship. After Jeremy Buck pinned Sabin in an eight-person tag team match, where the Motor City Machine Guns teamed with Jay Lethal and Velvet Sky and Generation Me with Robbie E and Cookie , on the November 18 episode of Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns challenged Generation Me to an Empty Arena match . The match took place later that same night on Reaction with
9522-418: The United States, the pair had short runs in the independent promotions Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor under the names Motor City Machine Guns and Murder City Machine Guns, respectively. The team's work for other companies eventually ended when their main employer, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), requested their wrestlers stop taking bookings with certain independent promotions. It
9660-498: The World '16 . On September 30 at All Star Extravaganza VIII , the Motor City Machine Guns took part in a three-way ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, which was won by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and also included The Addiction. Sabin and Shelley then formed a stable named "Search and Destroy" with Jay White , Jonathan Gresham and Lio Rush . On September 22, 2017, at Death Before Dishonor XV ,
9798-523: The World Heavyweight Championship belt and the slamming of Sting into the mat with his Olympic Slam maneuver to gain the pinfall and retain the title. The attendance for the event was 900. Canadian Online Explorer writer Chris Sokol rated the entire event 7.5 out of 10, which was higher than the 2006 event's rating of 5 out of 10 by Bob Kapur. Sokol rated the ladder match between Cage and Kaz an 8.5, his highest rating of
9936-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
10074-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
10212-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
10350-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
10488-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
10626-552: The champions Beer Money, Inc. ( Robert Roode and James Storm ), after their manager Jacqueline interfered in the match. Earlier in the evening they disrespected Mick Foley as he was addressing the TNA originals backstage. Despite this and other showings of disrespect, they remained fan favorites and a part of the team opposing the Main Event Mafia. However, they would turn heel months later attacking Lethal Consequences (Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed) after losing
10764-464: The champions British Invasion ( Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus ) at Turning Point . On the November 12 episode of Impact! Beer Money, Inc. defeated the British Invasion in a non–title match to join the Motor City Machine Guns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point. At the pay-per-view The British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin and Beer Money, Inc. in a three–way match to retain
10902-678: The champions , Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa , in consecutive matches. In 2008, the team appeared in an episode of the MTV series Made , teaching a school boy the basics of professional wrestling. The two are also members of a rock band named The High Crusade, along with former TNA wrestler Petey Williams , Adam Tatro and Chris Plumb. The band released their debut album, It's Not What You Think , on September 7, 2010. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
11040-642: The championships. With Shelley out of commission for the next two months, James Storm would fill in as Sabin's partner, defeating XXXL ( Acey Romero and Larry D ) at Turning Point on November 14. After Shelley returned to action on the December 1 episode of Impact! , resuming the team with another victory over XXXL, The Guns were scheduled to team up with Rich Swann to face Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers at Hard To Kill on January 16, 2021, but Shelley legitimately had to back out due to "unavoidable circumstances", later revealed in that his outside career as
11178-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
11316-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
11454-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
11592-548: The duo won the pre–show match against Lethal Consequences, and immediately afterwards competed in the Ultimate X match for the X Division Championship which was won by champion Amazing Red . On the following episode of Impact! , they won a tag team Ultimate X match against Lethal Consequences when Sabin retrieved the X, to become #1 contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championships and challenged
11730-427: The encounter, the contract fell off the clipboard that hung above the ring, which changed the objective to just grabbing the clipboard to win. Kaz won the contest after causing Cage to fall off the ladder onto Styles and Tomko, who were interfering on Cage's behalf, and then ascending the ladder to grab the clipboard, becoming number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the process. The main event
11868-520: The encounter. Abyss won the contest by pinfall after slamming Reign into the mat with his maneuver, the Black Hole Slam . After the encounter, Abyss grabbed a key that hung around Reign's neck and used it to open a locked building on the stage, which unknowingly was occupied by an unknown wrestler . Reign and the unknown wrestler then proceeded to lock Abyss in the building and push it off the stage. A series of other preliminary matches followed
12006-554: The encounters. Jeremy Borash and Crystal Louthan were used as interviewers throughout the event. Besides wrestlers who were appearing in a wrestling role, James Mitchell , Awesome Kong , SoCal Val , B.G. James and Kip James of the Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM), Ms. Brooks , Karen Angle , and Sharmell were also featured on the broadcast. A series of backstage segments featured on the show involved James Storm and Eric Young, with Jackie Moore as an observer, involved in
12144-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
12282-607: The event TNA pulled all of their wrestlers from any upcoming ROH shows. In April 2008 Shelley and Sabin returned to Ring of Honor, losing to the Age of the Fall ( Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs ) and defeating the Briscoe Brothers on the 18th and 19th respectively. They returned to Ring of Honor in August 2008. On August 1 in Manassas, VA they fought Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson to
12420-500: The event's card. On the October 18 episode of Impact! , Joe fought Cage for the vacant spot in The 2007 Fight for the Right Tournament. During which Roode interfered by attacking Joe, which led to Joe losing the bout. Joe retaliated on the October 25 episode of Impact! by interfering in Roode's quarterfinal match with Fatu, causing him to also lose. TNA commentator Mike Tenay announced on
12558-591: The event, the duo defeated Aussie Open to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, in a three-way match, also involving The DKC and Kevin Knight . On July 18, 2020, at Slammiversary , Motor City Machine Guns returned to Impact Wrestling and defeated The Rascalz ( Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier ) after answering their open challenge. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling , they defeated The North to capture
12696-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
12834-486: The fans and showing respect for the fans. On the October 30 episode of Impact!, The Machine Guns along with A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe , Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Petey Williams , Eric Young and ODB formed a faction of younger wrestlers called The TNA Front Line to oppose The Main Event Mafia . At Turning Point , Shelley and Sabin received a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship , but were defeated by
12972-414: The feud, Team 3D awarded the stolen X Division Championship to Devine, before Devine won the title outright. The two teams faced off in an Ultimate X match for the title at Final Resolution . Prior to the pay-per-view, it was claimed that Ray and Devon were too heavy to support themselves on the cables, so they "broke" Sabin and Shelley's fingers, making them unable to climb. Team 3D won this match by using
13110-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
13248-402: The following episode of Impact! Generation Me laid claim to the TNA World Tag Team Championship, claiming that the champions wouldn't be able to defend them for 30 days, due to Shelley's injury, before stealing Sabin's title belt. Shelley would however make his return two weeks later and promised Generation Me a rematch for the World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory . At the pay–per–view
13386-477: The former turned on his Knights of the Rising Dawn (KRD) stablemate Christopher Daniels, helping Shelley defeat him in a singles match. At the following day's Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Sabin and Shelley defeated Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, The Addiction , in their return match. This led to the two unsuccessfully challenging The Addiction for the ROH World Tag Team Championship on June 24 at Best in
13524-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
13662-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
13800-723: The hometown of both Shelley and Sabin. The duo also made appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on the NJPW Strong brand, as well as Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW). Originally forming a team in Pro Wrestling Zero1 in 2006, Shelley and Sabin have worked together on and off ever since. They have won three TNA World Tag Team Championships and one ROH World Tag Team Championship while in Ring of Honor (ROH) - and in NJPW they have held
13938-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
14076-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
14214-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
14352-493: The injured Hernandez in the match. The following month at Sacrifice the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. and Team 3D in a three–way match to earn another shot at the Tag Team Championship. On July 11 at Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. to win the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. After Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns entered
14490-520: The interference. At Bound for Glory, Team 3D ( Brother Devon and Brother Ray ) fought The Steiner Brothers ( Rick and Scott Steiner ) in a two out of three falls tables match . They were unsuccessful at defeating the Steiners as The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin; MCMG) interfered and helped the Steiners win the match. On the October 18 episode of Impact! , Team 3D attacked MCMG during their match in The 2007 Fight for
14628-561: The ladder match was a "very good ladder match" and was the "best match" up to that point. Dan Wilkenfeld of the Pro Wrestling Torch gave the overall event a B rating and believed it was a "step down" from the previous month's Bound for Glory. The event was released on DVD on January 15, 2008 by TNA Home Video . Following Genesis, A.J. Styles and Tomko went on to join Kurt and Karen Angle to form The Angle Alliance . Due to Angle's attack on Nash at Genesis, Nash and Scott Hall went on to request
14766-600: The match. In September 2024, it was reported that Shelley and Sabin signed with WWE . They made their debut on the SmackDown brand on October 18 on a qualifying match against A-Town Down Under ( Grayson Waller and Austin Theory ) and Los Garza ( Angel and Berto ), and won the WWE Tag Team Championship the following week after they defeated #DIY ( Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa ), and then
14904-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
15042-505: The next few months unsuccessfully trying to unmask Suicide, initially also claiming that he is Daniels . On the August 6 episode of Impact! , Shelley and Sabin both turned face once again aligning themselves with Daniels against World Elite when an all out brawl broke out in the Impact! Zone. In September Shelley and Sabin began appearing as occasional commentators alongside Mike Tenay and Taz on Impact! broadcasts. At Bound for Glory
15180-424: The night after EMTS helped her to the backstage area. Next, the finals of The 2007 Fight for the Right Tournament were held between Christian Cage and Kaz in a ladder match that lasted 15 minutes and 13 seconds. In a ladder match, an object is hung above the ring and the first to climb a ladder and retrieve the object is the winner. During the match, Cage was legitimately busted open above his eye. Midway through
15318-418: The participants, where the last remaining eight advanced to the second round and were seeded in order of elimination. Eric Young , Robert Roode , James Storm , Junior Fatu , Chris Sabin , Kaz , Lance Hoyt , and Alex Shelley all advanced to round two. The first bout of the quarterfinals took place on the October 18 episode of Impact! between Shelley and Sabin, which ended in a no contest . This led to
15456-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
15594-600: The promotion on August 21. In their return match, the Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After defeating the Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions , Aussie Open on the September 15th episode of Impact! , Sabin and Shelley made their return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Rumble on 44th Street on October 28. At
15732-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
15870-413: The rest of the year. On March 18, 2012, at Victory Road , TNA aired a video, promoting the upcoming return of the Motor City Machine Guns. The Motor City Machine Guns returned on the April 5 episode of Impact Wrestling , defeating Mexican America in a tag team match, before announcing their intention of going for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, held by Magnus and Samoa Joe. On April 15 at Lockdown ,
16008-407: The review, while the main event match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was rated a 7. The Women's Title match was rated the lowest with a 5. Sokol stated in his review of the event when referring to Booker T being Sting's mystery partner, he gave TNA "major props". In his comments on the finish to the main event he stated that it was an "intriguing ending to an excellent PPV". Wade Keller of
16146-516: The ring; they were eventually sent to the backstage area during the contest. After nine minutes and one second, Kim pinned ODB after slamming her into the mat with her maneuver the Happy Ending to retain the title. Sonjay Dutt challenged Jay Lethal for the TNA X Division Championship next. Lethal successfully retained the title after gaining the pinfall following an elbow drop from the top of
16284-540: The scripted events that build tension and culminate into a wrestling match or series of matches. The primary storyline heading into Genesis involved the TNA World Heavyweight Championship held by then-champion Kurt Angle . On the October 25 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact! , Management Director Jim Cornette announced that the title would be defended in a tag team match with Angle and Kevin Nash against Sting and
16422-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
16560-479: The team interfered in a tables match between Team 3D (Brothers Ray and Devon ) and the Steiner Brothers ( Scott and Rick ), trying to prevent Team 3D from cheating and effectively helping the Steiners win the match. The following month at Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns surprised Team 3D and defeated them in a tag team match. Later in the event Ray and Devon, embarrassed by their loss, attacked
16698-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
16836-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
16974-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
17112-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
17250-755: The win resulted in Lethal being given back the X Division title and the members of Team 3D essentially being disqualified from future matches until they could all drop their weight below super heavyweight status. They were members of Team TNA alongside Kaz and Curry Man in the 2008 edition of the TNA World X Cup , but lost to Team Mexico at Victory Road . They then slipped into the role of tweeners , showing disrespect to Christian Cage , A.J. Styles , Consequences Creed , B.G. James and The Latin American Xchange however still being cheered heavily by
17388-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
17526-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
17664-457: Was a tag team match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship , in which then-champion Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash defeated the team of Sting and Booker T ; Angle gained the pinfall to retain the title. The final round of The 2007 Fight for the Right Tournament was determined in a ladder match , in which Kaz defeated Christian Cage to become number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Samoa Joe versus Robert Roode
17802-408: Was a replacement for Fatu—to advance to the finals. On the November 8 episode of Impact! , Cage defeated Kaz, with interference from Cage's allies A.J. Styles and Tomko , to win the tournament. Afterwards, Cornette's stand-in for the night Matt Morgan declared the match a no contest and announced that the tournament would be decided in a ladder match between Cage and Kaz at Genesis due to
17940-519: Was a tag team match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, pitting the teams of then-champion Kurt Angle, who was accompanied by Karen Angle, and Kevin Nash against Sting and a mystery partner. Before the contest began, Sting introduced his partner as the debuting Booker T , who was accompanied by the also debuting Sharmell. During the 13 minute and 41 second long encounter, the team of Styles and Tomko interfered on Angle's behalf by attacking Booker T and Sting. This led later to Angle hitting Nash with
18078-505: Was also featured on the card, which Joe won. The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ) defeated Team 3D ( Brother Devon and Brother Ray ) in a tag team match. Genesis is noted for the TNA debut of Booker T. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a 7.5 out of 10 stars, higher than the 2006 event's rating of 5. The third Genesis event
18216-665: Was announced in mid-August 2007, scheduled for November 11, 2007 at the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida . The promotional poster for the gathering was released some time prior through PPV providers featuring various TNA wrestlers. It featured the tagline "A New Breed of Company... A New Breed of Wrestler... A New Breed in Wrestling". Genesis featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines . Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels or face in
18354-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
18492-507: Was not until April 2007 that the team debuted in TNA, where they had previously been singles wrestlers in the company's X Division . After briefly working together while wrestling as opponents in an Xscape match at the annual Lockdown pay-per-view they became regulars in the tag team division. Initially using the Murder City name, the team's moniker was later changed to the more " PG " Motor City. After Shelley and Sabin had teamed for
18630-575: Was open to returning at a later time. On the March 10, 2022, episode of Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns reunited as Sabin came out to back Shelley in his feud with their former protégé Jay White , leading to a match scheduled against White and Chris Bey on the March 17 episode. On December 9, 2022, The Guns captured the Impact World Tag Team Championships from Heath and Rhino in Pembroke Pines, Fl. On
18768-650: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
18906-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
19044-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
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