FTR wanted to talk about the AEW World Tag Team Championships. The Motor City Machine Guns had a more immediate proposal: face us, and keep facing us until one team proves it can win three times. The two teams agreed to a best-of-five series on October 14's Dynamite, with the opener scheduled for WrestleDream on October 17.
Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler against Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin is a matchup that hardly needs dressing up. Stretching it across several bouts gives the rivalry room to build rather than betting everything on one night.
How the challenge happened
FTR were arguing that their record against the Young Bucks put them near the front of the tag championship line. Shelley and Sabin interrupted and turned that logic back on them. If beating a team three times out of five is convincing evidence, why not hold the same contest against FTR?
Shelley suggested getting things started on Dynamite. Stokely Hathaway pushed back and argued for WrestleDream instead. FTR and the Machine Guns accepted the plan, setting the first match for the October 17 Tailgate Brawl. For now, the arrangement is a series, not a published list of every future matchup.
Why this matters
Both teams have built reputations on making tag wrestling feel like an actual partnership. FTR's strengths come from positioning, timing and isolating opponents. The Motor City Machine Guns answer with combinations and speed developed through years of working together. A rematch can expose those strengths and weaknesses more clearly than a single bout.
They've appeared in the same match before, including a six-man contest at All Out in 2022, but a direct two-on-two series makes the comparison much harder to dodge. It also turns the question of 'best team' into a test of adjustments, not merely who had the better night.
What comes next
Match one begins at WrestleDream's Tailgate Brawl on October 17. The teams will need three wins to take the best-of-five, but dates for the remaining bouts have not been fully announced.
Neither a guaranteed shot at the Young Bucks nor an automatic championship stipulation was confirmed in the material we checked. FTR still want the belts, and the Machine Guns want to prove they belong at the top. The series gives both arguments a place to get tested.