The first DLC pack for WWE 2K25 arrives this week, and included in that content are new WWE Superstars and legends of the pro wrestling tag team scene, Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin, collectively known as the Motor City Machine Guns, who I had the pleasure to chat with before its launch.
After watching the first look of the Motor City Machine Guns’ entrance on social media, I was impressed by how authentically the duo are recreated for WWE 2K25. Being an impressed fan is one thing, but being the real-life WWE Superstars that has inspired the digital recreations must be a surreal experience.
“Seeing the entrance with our music, the way we walk and move, everything is so accurate. I was blown away,” a smiling Chris tells me. “I actually haven't seen it yet,” adds Alex. “I've intentionally avoided everything because we're going to see the entrance when we're done with this round of interviews. So I've gone out of my way to not see any spoilers whatsoever.”
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Check out the WWE 2K25 'New Wave Pack' trailer below!
Video game developers are a talented bunch, and WWE 2K’s Visual Concepts are no exception. Fans of this series will be very aware of how accurately WWE Superstars are created, and the process of being put into the game as a character must be lengthy, right?
“As far as the process is for us, it was pretty easy. We didn't have to do any motion capture or anything. About an hour before we started a WWE SmackDown show, we were sent to the 2K truck,” Chris explains. “Visual Concepts took a bunch of facial scans and pictures, and that was about it for us. As far as the work we put in, the real heroes are the developers.”
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The WWE 2K25 roster is packed full of Superstars today and of yesteryear. Now that the Motor City Machine Guns are in WWE 2K25, the dream matches are pretty much endless. We can see the duo battle against The Wild Samoans and The Dudley Boyz, or current World Tag Team Champions, The New Day and WWE Tag Team Champions, The Street Prophets.
With all those possibilities, I was curious as to who would be the dream match of the Motor City Machine Guns. “One of the new features in WWE 2K25 is intergender matches, right?” asks Chris. “In that case, I’d love to see us go against Alundra Blayze (aka Madusa in WCW) and Molly Holly.”
“Alundra Blayze and Molly Holly,” replies a surprised Alex to Chris. “Okay, that sounds good. I was gonna say The Usos and The New Day, but yeah, we can go with Alundra Blayze and Molly Holly. I would also like to see us go against The Rockers and The Orient Express, but they’re sadly not in WWE 2K25, yet.”
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The Motor City Machine Guns have been just about everywhere in the world of professional wrestling, such as TNA, NJPW and also featured in a match on AEW PPV, ‘All Out’ in 2022.
While Alex Shelly’s (2002) and Chris Sabin’s (2000) time in pro wrestling preceded their time as a tag team, the Motor City Machine Guns made their debut for Ring of Honour in 2007, so their WWE debut has been 17 years in the making.
That dream came to fruition on SmackDown in October 2024 defeating A-Town Down Under and Los Garza, then #DIY the following week to earn a title shot against the then WWE Tag Team Champions, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, known as the Gorilla’s of Destiny in NJPW, and are sons of the legendary, Haku.
“For me, that debut was validation for 25 years of hard work. It took me a quarter of a century to get here. When I first got into the world of professional wrestling, WWE was always my goal,” Chris explains.
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“But I always wanted to be a journeyman of the industry to travel the world and learn different styles of pro wrestling, and that’s what I did. It’s now come full circle, and being in the WWE feels like a surreal dream come true. It’s indescribable.” Alex adds, “It was very much a fugue state and a fever dream.”
Winning WWE tag team gold so early from making their debut is pretty much unheard of and shows the level of trust given to the Motor City Machine Guns.
“It was so cool and unexpected, especially after just two weeks and three matches in. It’s quite unheard of in the history of WWE,” Chris says. “Straight from the get-go, it was time for us to step up, and we did the best we had with the opportunity given to us.”
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“To beat the Gorillas of Destiny, a tag team that we’ve wrestled many times before WWE and a team that has had a career path that has been rather undulating as well, it felt good to beat the top tag team act of the company,” Alex tells me. “Oh, and to beat members of The Bloodline, felt extra special.”
I think many fans would agree that despite the top-tier talent in the pro wrestling industry as a whole, tag team wrestling often takes a back seat to singles competition, which has only spurred fans to support the craft of tag team wrestling more than ever.
“We’re always in two modes. If we’re the champions, we want to battle to keep those titles. If we’re not the champions, we’ll battle to get those titles,” Chris explains. “It’s our default mode wherever we’re at in our career or what’s put in front of us.”
“On our show, at least, SmackDown, the tag team division has been getting a lot of praise, and justifiably so,” says Alex. “Everybody busts their ass, it’s very competitive and now we have to recognise that Fraxium, who achieved great success in NXT, is now on Smackdown. So we have another team in the title picture that makes our division a little more dynamic, which means we’ve got to work a little harder and smarter.
As I like to ask everyone whom I have the opportunity to interview, whether it's something professional or personal, I want to know what has given Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin the most joy in life over the last 12 months.
“Oh boy, that’s tough. There have been so many moments,” says Chris. “Maybe I’d go with the ladder match on SmackDown on 25 April 2025 between us, #DIY and The Street Prophets. Seeing the response to that match from the fans was really cool. That match brought me a lot of joy.”
I must add, that ladder match, which saw The Street Prophets retain their WWE Tag Team Championship, was incredible and most certainly should have been on the WrestleMania 41 card less than a week prior, in my humble opinion.
“The moment that I cherish the most, and there have been a lot of incredible moments over the last year, is when I finally received my WWE contract,” Alex explains. “Receiving those contracts and actually holding them in my hands made me realise that everything we’ve been through to get here was totally worth it.”
The ‘New Wave Pack’ not only includes the Motor City Machine Guns but also the newly recruited Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer and a yet-to-be-announced celebrity guest character.
The ‘New Wave Pack’ releases today for WWE 2K25 and is available at no extra cost for those who own its season pass.
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