Former Impact Tag Team Champion revealed as Kushida's tag team partner

On tonight's episode of NXT, former Impact Tag Team Champion Alex Shelley was revealed as Kushida's tag team partner for the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The veteran tag team specialist has teamed up with Kushida in the past and they were also referred to as 'Time Splitters' by the commentators, the name that they went by in independent promotions.

| NEXT WEEK |⏱ @KUSHIDA_0904 & @fakekinkade vs @ZackGibson01 & @JamesDrake_GYT👊 @MandrewsJunior & @Flash_Morgan vs @SuperKingofBros & @PeteDunneYxB #DustyClassic #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/Qgz29auwHy

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 9, 2020

The Time Splitters are back

Alex Shelley is perhaps best known for his time at TNA (now, Impact Wrestling) where he and his partner, Chris Sabin were known as The Motor City Machine Guns. They were very popular with the Impact faithful and were revered for their acrobatic style of tag-team wrestling.

He won the Impact Tag Team Championships on only one occasion as one half of The Motor City Machine Guns and apart from that he is also a former Impact X Division Champion.

When he left Impact for NJPW, he won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship thrice. Once with Sabin and later twice when he teamed up with Kushida to form the 'Time Splitters'.

Some months ago it was reported that Shelley had joined the WWE Performance Center as a special trainer. WWE fans thought that they would never be able to see Shelley perform inside a WWE ring but it seems like the dream is about to come true.