In a move people were wishing for, KUSHIDA revealed that his mystery tag team partner for the NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic would be a very familiar face – his former New Japan tag team partner, Alex Shelley, from Time Splitters.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1215099678498357249
Alex Shelley, of course, was one half of one of the 2000s most influential tag team units, the Motor City Machine Guns, but he was parting ways with long-time partner Chris Sabin. Sabin would go on to a great solo run in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, even winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. In 2012, he formed a new tag team alongside one of NJPW’s fastest rising stars, KUSHIDA. Together, the two would form the unit Time Splitters and would go on to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on two occasions.
Time Splitters ended in 2015, only lasting a few years – but the other two continued to find success. Shelley would reunite with Sabin in 2016 and reform MCMG, capturing the Ring of Honor Tag Team titles. KUSHIDA would go on to an incredible singles career. In just over four years, he became a 6x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion who won two Best of the Super Juniors back to back (2015, 2016), and winner of the 2016 NJPW Super J Cup.
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