Post by geoff on Feb 23, 2022 6:55:39 GMT
Close does not even cut it
It has been almost two weeks since the Motor City Machine Guns came up short in their match for the tag titles in Madison Square Garden. Them and three other teams put on one of the most talked about matches of the night and despite not making it to the final phase of the match they were still content with how they did. A lot of the chatter after the match was that any of the three final teams could have pulled it off but it was the Wingmen that had the mysterious and intangible “X” factor that determined their victory and their place in WLCW history.
Even though they gained high praise from the wrestling media and the fans, losing the match still left the Guns with a bad taste in their mouth. Everybody believes that they will win their match and gain the glory that comes with a victory but the Guns expected to win. That expectation came with the years of fighting side by side all over the world. Going into the match they knew that it was theirs to lose. Hindsight being as it is, the facts are very apparent.
They were still rusty
Even though they defeated the Varsity Blondes and went toe to toe with the best teams in the company there were little things here and there that Alex and Chris picked up on when they watched their match via Microsoft Teams. Bad timing led to Alex or Chis second guessing each other and while they held their own they would need a few more matches in order to fight their way back to being the top contenders and a rematch against the Wingmen.
Rather than stay home and remain pissed off about losing their chance at the titles, Steve Borden put the Guns up for a match at Vengeance even before the lights in Madison Square Garden went dark. Borden was going to do everything that he could to make sure that the Motor City Machine Guns took back what they walked away from and hopefully get them to heights even they did not think were possible.
At a cruising altitude of twenty thousand feet Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were watching one of their old matches from back in the day. They were the Ring of Honor tag team champions going up against a team of brothers that were being hyped up as the next big thing. The private jet banked slightly as it crossed over into Canadian airspace. Chris looked at the screen and rested his head against his seat.
CHRIS SABIN: I can tell that we are getting old because it took me three days to recover from that match. It used to take only a day, maybe a day and a half to get back up to strength.
Shelley nods in agreement and thinks back to the flight he took back to Detroit on his own. Thankfully he was able to stretch out but it took him a little longer than three days to recover. He would never admit that to Chris though. Alex stopped wrestling for the most part when the team broke up. Outside of the occasional independent match and that brief time where he ran his own startup he was in ring shape but he was not even close to where he was or perhaps where he needed to be.
ALEX SHELLEY I remember those two guys. They were pretty fast, almost faster than us. I remember the pre-match hype giving them the edge because they were brothers and up until facing us they had run the table. There was a rhythm about how they fought that was impressive to say the least.
Chris watched Alex as he narrowed his gaze at the video. The match had just gotten started and both teams were wrestling at a very intense pace. Sabin could also tell in Alex’s voice that he was still burned about the title loss. It was almost as if he blamed himself for the loss. Chris wanted to bring it up earlier but there was never a right time. Better now than never considering they were facing another set of brothers in the Usos.
CHRIS SABIN: I am just going to say it. You don’t and can’t blame yourself for what happened at Ascension. I ca….
Shelley held up his hand and stopped Chris from elaborating.
ALEX SHELLEY You can tell? I am sure you can because it is the truth. I know that if it was for a singles title that you would have taken that gold just like old times. The Icon had to bring me along though and I messed up our chances at being the first tag champions and winning in Madison Square Garden. This is something that has been eating me up ever since we walked back to the locker room.
In the past it was always Chris that blamed himself for any loss that the duo took. He understands where Alex is coming from but also knows that this kind of thought process can do more damage than just the one loss. Sabin pauses the match playing on the screen and rotates his chair to face Alex’s.
CHRIS SABIN: Does losing suck? Of course it does but you are being way too hard on yourself, Alex. I do not mean to dismiss Ascension but what is done is done. We did not pull it off and on to the next match. I understand that was your first big pay-per-view match in a few years but you killed it. We just came up short.
Alex shook his head and glanced back at the screen before responding to Chris.
ALEX SHELLEY Just came up short? You are right. It is easy for you to just dismiss what happened. You’ve been in other big matches and you’ve gotten used to the spotlight because you lived in it for the past few years. I remember when I was the one telling you to calm down and take things easy and now…well just listen to me.
There were hints of shame in Alex’s voice which is something Chris had never heard. What Alex said was not wrong but it was how he said it that bothered him. Despite all of his claims to the contrary, there was still resentment between them. There might always be. At this point Chris is just hoping to get Alex to focus on the Usos instead of the Wingmen.
CHRIS SABIN: I understand where you are coming from but we’ve got Jimmy and Jey Uso to focus on. Those guys are true brothers and have a ton of pressure on them considering a loss for them is going to make Roman Reigns look bad. We’ve beaten brothers before and we are going to do it again at Vengeance.
Alex glances back at the screen and presses “play” on the recording. The match on the screen starts to pick back up.
ALEX SHELLEY Then we have to use that pressure to our advantage just like we did with those guys we wrestled back then. Brothers or not they have a lot of burden on them and all we have to do is go out there and do what we’ve always done I guess.
Alex’s tone was changing but it would very likely take more than a pep talk from Chris Sabin to get him back to the Alex Shelley the world is used to seeing. In order to defeat teams like the Usos and the Wingmen Alex will have to get out of his own head. Shelley looks at the screen as the match reaches its final stages.
ALEX SHELLEY That night we sent the world a message that the Motor City Machine Guns were not just some flash in the pan team. Tomorrow night we can do the same thing and prove to the wrestling world that a single loss is not going to stop our climb back to the top.
Chris pauses the video with the Guns having their hands held high and their rivals looking towards them in shock.
CHRIS SABIN: Let’s maybe come close to having a little fun like we used to, ok?
Even with the self doubt that has clouded the mind of Alex Shelley he smirks and looks back at Chris.
ALEX SHELLEY Close won’t even cut it. We are going to go out there and do this our way…the Motor City Machine Gun way.
The scene fades as the private jet starts its final approach for landing. Wednesday night at Vengeance the Guns will be looking to get back to their winning ways and line themselves up for redemption and another shot at the WLCW Tag Team Titles.
It has been almost two weeks since the Motor City Machine Guns came up short in their match for the tag titles in Madison Square Garden. Them and three other teams put on one of the most talked about matches of the night and despite not making it to the final phase of the match they were still content with how they did. A lot of the chatter after the match was that any of the three final teams could have pulled it off but it was the Wingmen that had the mysterious and intangible “X” factor that determined their victory and their place in WLCW history.
Even though they gained high praise from the wrestling media and the fans, losing the match still left the Guns with a bad taste in their mouth. Everybody believes that they will win their match and gain the glory that comes with a victory but the Guns expected to win. That expectation came with the years of fighting side by side all over the world. Going into the match they knew that it was theirs to lose. Hindsight being as it is, the facts are very apparent.
They were still rusty
Even though they defeated the Varsity Blondes and went toe to toe with the best teams in the company there were little things here and there that Alex and Chris picked up on when they watched their match via Microsoft Teams. Bad timing led to Alex or Chis second guessing each other and while they held their own they would need a few more matches in order to fight their way back to being the top contenders and a rematch against the Wingmen.
Rather than stay home and remain pissed off about losing their chance at the titles, Steve Borden put the Guns up for a match at Vengeance even before the lights in Madison Square Garden went dark. Borden was going to do everything that he could to make sure that the Motor City Machine Guns took back what they walked away from and hopefully get them to heights even they did not think were possible.
At a cruising altitude of twenty thousand feet Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were watching one of their old matches from back in the day. They were the Ring of Honor tag team champions going up against a team of brothers that were being hyped up as the next big thing. The private jet banked slightly as it crossed over into Canadian airspace. Chris looked at the screen and rested his head against his seat.
CHRIS SABIN: I can tell that we are getting old because it took me three days to recover from that match. It used to take only a day, maybe a day and a half to get back up to strength.
Shelley nods in agreement and thinks back to the flight he took back to Detroit on his own. Thankfully he was able to stretch out but it took him a little longer than three days to recover. He would never admit that to Chris though. Alex stopped wrestling for the most part when the team broke up. Outside of the occasional independent match and that brief time where he ran his own startup he was in ring shape but he was not even close to where he was or perhaps where he needed to be.
ALEX SHELLEY I remember those two guys. They were pretty fast, almost faster than us. I remember the pre-match hype giving them the edge because they were brothers and up until facing us they had run the table. There was a rhythm about how they fought that was impressive to say the least.
Chris watched Alex as he narrowed his gaze at the video. The match had just gotten started and both teams were wrestling at a very intense pace. Sabin could also tell in Alex’s voice that he was still burned about the title loss. It was almost as if he blamed himself for the loss. Chris wanted to bring it up earlier but there was never a right time. Better now than never considering they were facing another set of brothers in the Usos.
CHRIS SABIN: I am just going to say it. You don’t and can’t blame yourself for what happened at Ascension. I ca….
Shelley held up his hand and stopped Chris from elaborating.
ALEX SHELLEY You can tell? I am sure you can because it is the truth. I know that if it was for a singles title that you would have taken that gold just like old times. The Icon had to bring me along though and I messed up our chances at being the first tag champions and winning in Madison Square Garden. This is something that has been eating me up ever since we walked back to the locker room.
In the past it was always Chris that blamed himself for any loss that the duo took. He understands where Alex is coming from but also knows that this kind of thought process can do more damage than just the one loss. Sabin pauses the match playing on the screen and rotates his chair to face Alex’s.
CHRIS SABIN: Does losing suck? Of course it does but you are being way too hard on yourself, Alex. I do not mean to dismiss Ascension but what is done is done. We did not pull it off and on to the next match. I understand that was your first big pay-per-view match in a few years but you killed it. We just came up short.
Alex shook his head and glanced back at the screen before responding to Chris.
ALEX SHELLEY Just came up short? You are right. It is easy for you to just dismiss what happened. You’ve been in other big matches and you’ve gotten used to the spotlight because you lived in it for the past few years. I remember when I was the one telling you to calm down and take things easy and now…well just listen to me.
There were hints of shame in Alex’s voice which is something Chris had never heard. What Alex said was not wrong but it was how he said it that bothered him. Despite all of his claims to the contrary, there was still resentment between them. There might always be. At this point Chris is just hoping to get Alex to focus on the Usos instead of the Wingmen.
CHRIS SABIN: I understand where you are coming from but we’ve got Jimmy and Jey Uso to focus on. Those guys are true brothers and have a ton of pressure on them considering a loss for them is going to make Roman Reigns look bad. We’ve beaten brothers before and we are going to do it again at Vengeance.
Alex glances back at the screen and presses “play” on the recording. The match on the screen starts to pick back up.
ALEX SHELLEY Then we have to use that pressure to our advantage just like we did with those guys we wrestled back then. Brothers or not they have a lot of burden on them and all we have to do is go out there and do what we’ve always done I guess.
Alex’s tone was changing but it would very likely take more than a pep talk from Chris Sabin to get him back to the Alex Shelley the world is used to seeing. In order to defeat teams like the Usos and the Wingmen Alex will have to get out of his own head. Shelley looks at the screen as the match reaches its final stages.
ALEX SHELLEY That night we sent the world a message that the Motor City Machine Guns were not just some flash in the pan team. Tomorrow night we can do the same thing and prove to the wrestling world that a single loss is not going to stop our climb back to the top.
Chris pauses the video with the Guns having their hands held high and their rivals looking towards them in shock.
CHRIS SABIN: Let’s maybe come close to having a little fun like we used to, ok?
Even with the self doubt that has clouded the mind of Alex Shelley he smirks and looks back at Chris.
ALEX SHELLEY Close won’t even cut it. We are going to go out there and do this our way…the Motor City Machine Gun way.
The scene fades as the private jet starts its final approach for landing. Wednesday night at Vengeance the Guns will be looking to get back to their winning ways and line themselves up for redemption and another shot at the WLCW Tag Team Titles.