Cash Wheeler is facing a third-degree felony charge stemming from a road rage incident in Florida.
As first reported by The Orlando Sentinel, Wheeler has been charged with one count of aggravated assault with a firearm and booked in Circuit Court.
Wheeler is alleged to have flashed a handgun at another person during a road rage incident on July 27. A warrant for his arrest was filed the following day. According to county records, he pled not guilty through a lawyer on August 3 and turned himself in on Friday morning to Orlando Police.
Wheeler appeared in court for a hearing on Friday afternoon. He was given a $2500 bond, ordered to turn in any weapons he owns, and to have no contact with the alleged victim.
“AEW has been made aware of the charge, and we are closely monitoring the situation. (Wheeler) is fully cooperating with local authorities,” the company stated to the Orlando Sentinel.
According to Hanlon Law, the maximum penalty for the charge in Florida is five years in prison or five years probation, plus a $5000 fine. The firm notes that even first-time offenders can face jail time for the offense.
From Hanlon Law regarding aggravated assault with a firearm charges:
Florida Statutes section 784.021 requires a prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt certain elements to obtain a conviction for aggravated assault. These are that the defendant intentionally and illegally threatened through words or acts to do violence to the alleged victim, the defendant appeared to be able to carry out this threat at the time, the threat created in the alleged victim a reasonable fear that violence was about to happen, and the assault was made with a deadly weapon or a fully formed conscious intent to perpetrate a felony.
Wheeler along with his FTR teammate, Dax Harwood, is scheduled to defend the AEW World Tag Team Championships against The Young Bucks at All In later this month.
FTR is hopeful that CMFTR vs. The Elite will happen eventually.
Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood vs. The Young Bucks III will take place later this month in London’s Wembley Stadium. However, the AEW tag champions recently told DAZN that they believe the more time passes, the more likely it is that they will be able to team with CM Punk to face the Bucks and other members of The Elite.
“I think if the cards fall in the right place and, you know, the story is right and the opportunity calls for it then hell yeah, you can do it,” Harwood said about a potential CMFTR vs. Elite match.
“I think wrestling is all about making the most money for yourselves and for the company you work for and I think that everybody here all agrees with that and the more time passes, the more likely I think it is that we can get to there. But you never really know, and I don’t want to say ‘yes’ but I hope so.”
CMFTR will challenge The House of Black for the Trios titles on Saturday’s edition of Collision from the Greensboro Coliseum. It will be the third time Wheeler and Harwood have teamed with Punk since he returned.
“I think that Punk is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time,” Harwood continued. “Look at his track record, his resume, and the things he’s done in wrestling especially when, you know, the business, at one point, was completely against him and what he represented.”
Following Saturday’s match for the Trios belts, FTR will be looking ahead to All In later this month. They will defend the AEW Tag Team titles against the Young Bucks in what Harwood says could be the biggest match of their careers.
“I think it has the potential to be the biggest match of Cash and I’s career,” Harwood said. “Before we even came to AEW, all you heard about was FTR versus Young Bucks. Or, excuse me, The Revival versus the Young Bucks, what would happen if those two teams got in the ring?”
The Young Bucks vs. FTR head-to-head series is tied 1-1. The Bucks beat FTR for the tag titles at Full Gear 2020 but FTR avenged the loss on an episode of Dynamite in April 2022. The rubber match is now scheduled to take place in front of 80,000 people in London.
“It always felt like it needed the biggest platform possible and now, after all this time, we finally get it,” Wheeler said. “It really is the biggest platform possible.
“Wembley could be, and probably will be, the biggest, highest-attended wrestling event in history. And what better way to have what could be the biggest tag team match of a generation than right there?” Wheeler continued.
Harwood continued to talk about the “underlying tension” between FTR and the Young Bucks.
“I feel that there’s some underlying tension between the two teams, not saying that we dislike each other, but there’s some underlying tension,” Harwood said. “We honestly think we’re the best tag team of the generation, and could be the best tag team of all time, and I think they feel the same way about themselves.”
Friday’s early edition of AEW Rampage will feature the maiden voyage of Jay White and Juice Robinson’s Bullet Club Gold.
Friday’s show will air at 6:30 PM Eastern due to the NHL playoffs on TNT.
The team will take on Ricky Starks and Shawn Spears. Starks came to Spears’ aid two Dynamites ago when White and Robinson attacked him.
After Jeff Jarrett defeated Dax Harwood Wednesday due to outside distractions, FTR’s Cash Wheeler will look to even the score as he faces Jay Lethal in a rare singles match for Wheeler.
Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) will reunite as a tag team against opponents to be named while Anna Jay A.S. will take on Ashley D’Amboise.
The show will also feature an in-ring promo by former AEW Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed.
The Outcasts (Toni Storm, Saraya and Ruby Soho) will also be heard from in another promo segment.
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Taped from Sunrise, Florida. Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone were on commentary.
Jay White & Juice Robinson defeated Ricky Starks & Shawn Spears (9:50)
The match started fast with Starks and Spears rushing the ring. Both teams brawled around ringside, White paired off with Spears and Robinson with Starks. White choked out Spears with a microphone cable. Back in the ring, Stars worked Robinson over in the corner with chops. Spears tagged in and got a near fall with a legdrop. The babyfaces worked over Robinson in their corner. White caught Spears with a knee from the ring apron, and Robinson hit a leg lariat. Robinson sent Spears to the floor, where White suplexed him face first onto the ring apron.
After a split-screen break, the heels controlled the match with Spears in their corner. Spears fought back, but White cut him off with a dropkick to the knee. Spears countered a suplex from White and got the tag to Starks, who flattened Robinson with a clothesline. Robinson blocked a DDT, but Starks countered with a Northern Lights Driver, then clotheslined White to the floor. Starks hit a superplex on Robinson, and Spears followed up with a splash off the top for a near fall.
Spears went for death valley driver on Robsinson, but he countered with a eye rake. Spears caught White with a sky high for a near fall. Spears went for the death valley driver on White, but he slid out and caught Spears with a smooth as silk Blade Runner, and got the pinfall. Great finish, so-so match.
– Lexi Nair interviewed the Hardy Boys and Hook in the backstage area. Isaiah Kassidy is missing. Was this an angle from Dynamite? Apparently the Firm kidnapped Kassidy at Applebees, and have him in a different area backstage. Ethan Page threatened to have Big Bill chokeslam Kassidy off some scaffolding unless Matt Hardy agrees to make The Firm Deletion match next Friday at Rampage. Matt agrees, and then Big Bill chokeslammed Kassidy off the scaffolding anyway. Hook promised the Firm will be deleted next week.
Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) defeated Brady Pierce & Charlie James (2:08)
Lee tossed James across the ring with a beel throw, and then beeled Rhodes into both their opponents. Lee dropped James with the Spirit Bomb and got the pinfall.
After the match, the Mogul Embassy came out to confront Lee and Rhodes from the stage.
– Lexi Nair’s interview with Sammy Guevara was interrupted by Tay Melo, who read Sammy the riot act. Tay told Sammy MJF isn’t his friend, and he’s shouldn’t blow his opportunity at the World title by laying down for MJF.
Anna Jay A.S. defeated Ashley D’Amboise (4:43 aired)
Most of the first four minutes of this match took place in a split screen window, and Jay was absolutely dominant. After the commercial, Jay caught D’Amboise with a hangwoman’s neckbreaker and then locked in the Queenslayer sleeper for the tap out. This was a glorified squash.
After the match, Julia Hart attacked Jay from behind, and they brawled around ringside until the referees broke things up.
– The Outcasts said the usual but this time they were wearing t-shirts with a picture of Britt Baker’s black eye. Saraya will face Willow Nightingale on Dynamite next Wednesday.
The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defeated Cameron Stewart, Ryzin, and a third local talent (0:50)
Max Caster referenced Ron Desantis, the new Little Mermaid, and the recently fired Don Lemon in his rap to the ring.
And the rap was longer than the match. The Famouser, the Arrival and the Mic Drop finished off Cameron in short order.
– On Dynamite Wednesday May 10th, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley will face off in a steel cage.
– New for Dynamite next week, Juice Robinson will finally go one-on-one with Ricky Starks, and there will be a Trios battle royal with six teams.
Mark Briscoe came to the ring as a “ringside enforcer” for this match.
There was a funny bit where Lethal tried to get in a Fargo Strut, but Wheeler kept interrupting him. Lethal worked over Wheeler’s midsection. Wheeler countered a Lethal Injection and clotheslined Lethal to the floor.
After a split-screen break, Lethal had Wheeler trapped in an abdominal stretch. On commentary, JR claimed the abdominal stretch used to be an automatic submission. Sonjay Dutt tried to interfere, but Mark Briscoe stopped him. Back in the ring, Wheeler got a near fall with a small package. Lethal dropped Wheeler ribs first across the top rope, continuing to work over Wheeler’s midsection. The psychology here was very strong.
Lethal came off the top with an elbow drop, but Wheeler got his knees up. Wheeler came back with body shots and forearms. Wheeler hit a powerslam and a spinning DDT for a near fall. Wheeler kept trying for a piledriver, but Lethal kept escaping and hit the Lethal Combination.
Lethal went for the Lethal Injection, but Wheeler countered into a Gory Bomb for a near fall. Sonjay Dutt slid in the ring to distract the ref, which brought Briscoe up onto the ring apron. While Briscoe and Dutt argued on the apron, Lethal sent Wheeler crashing into Briscoe. Lethal then hit the Lethal Injection and got the pinfall.
This was a very solid professional wrestling match.
The Bullet Club Gold duo of Jay White and Juice Robinson will take on recent rivals Ricky Starks and Shawn Spears on this Friday’s AEW Rampage.
The show will start at 5:30 PM Eastern due to the NHL playoffs on TNT.
White made his return to AEW as an official roster member several weeks ago, attacking Starks as he was set to face Robinson. Last Wednesday, Starks came to Spears’ aid as Robinson and White gave him a beatdown following White’s win over Komander.
After Jeff Jarrett defeated Dax Harwood Wednesday, a battle of their respective teammates is on tap as FTR’s Cash Wheeler takes on Jay Lethal.
Anna Jay A.S. will go one-on-one with Ashley D’Amboise.
Promos from The Acclaimed and The Outcasts (Toni Storm, Ruby Soho & Saraya) will also be on the show.
The new additions join the previously announced match featuring Naturally Limitless (Keith Lee & Dustin Rhodes) against opponents to be named.
Here’s the lineup being taped after Wednesday’s Dynamite:
Ricky Starks & Shawn Spears vs. Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Juice Robinson)
Cash Wheeler vs. Jay Lethal
Anna Jay vs. Ashley D’Amboise
Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) vs. TBA
Dax Harwood has a dream match in mind for AEW All In from Wembley Stadium.
Harwood and Cash Wheeler told Uproxx recently that if the promotion wants to sell 50,000 tickets to the show then CM Punk & FTR vs. The Elite should be on the marquee.
Wheeler said:
I love that we’re going to Wembley because even if it’s not completely to the brim full, 50-, 60-, 70,000, whatever it ends up being, that’s huge for this company. As a company that’s only a couple years into its existence, you can’t play it safe all the time. The roster right now is so deep, why not go for it?”
Harwood added:
“CM Punk and FTR versus the Elite,” he said. “That’s gotta be it, right? If you want to sell 50,000 tickets and take this company to the next level, that’s it, that’s me dreaming. That’s the dream match. That six-man tag in Wembley Stadium could help launch AEW to the next level.”
Our own Dave Meltzer reported last month that Tony Khan made the decision to bring Punk back and a plan on reconciliation was agreed upon. However, it is unknown if Punk’s Instagram comments that were critical of his program with Jon Moxley caused any changes to these plans. Punk has been out of action with a torn triceps since All Out last September.
FTR defeated Austin and Colten Gunn on Dynamite last week to win the AEW World Tag Team titles for a second time. The match carried a stipulation that had FTR lost, they would have to leave AEW. In the lead-up to the match, Harwood said that the pair’s AEW contracts were set to expire in April. With the win, it appears FTR is staying with AEW and they say their relationship with Tony Khan factored into their decision.
“I think that Tony gets Dax and Cash, FTR, better than Vince,” Harwood says. “I think he understands that we are average, everyday human beings that just caught on with the fans because they can relate to us, because we’re either family men or just regular human beings. We just enjoy physicality and we enjoy fighting, and I think that they can live their lives through us. (Vince has) a business track record that proves that he is obviously very intelligent to the business, but I think he thinks he knows what the Revival was better than we did. That’s why he came up with all those cartoon costumes he gave us. In contrast, Tony understands that no one knows who we are better than us, and no one can display our characters or show our characteristics better than we can.”
Wheeler added:
“The conversations we have with Tony, the relationship we have with Tony compared to [Triple H] or Vince, we get along well with both those guys over there. Vince, to our faces anyway, was always very respectful, respected our work. Same with Hunter. But with Tony, I feel like we can have open, honest discussions with him about how we feel, where we think we need to change something or pivot. And I know that he’s receptive to it.”
Tony Khan is calling Adam Cole’s return on last week’s AEW Dynamite “a very inspirational story” and says there is more to it than fans are aware of.
The AEW President appeared on an episode of In The Kliq released Wednesday and was asked about Cole’s recovery from shoulder and concussion issues. He responded:
Certainly, it was a very challenging recovery and there were points there where I’m sure he had to question if he was going to make it back or what he was putting himself through.
He wanted it so bad, he wanted so bad to come back to AEW to get back in the ring and wrestle for the fans.
For us, it’s a dream come true having Adam Cole be a part of the AEW roster and it’s very exciting that he’s getting closer and closer to making a comeback. It’s a really inspirational story and people don’t even know the half of it yet and I’m excited for people to find out more about what Adam Cole’s been through.
Khan also addressed FTR’s status on the show. Dax Harwood recently revealed that the team requested and were granted time off from AEW television ahead of their contracts expiring in April. Khan said he hopes to see FTR return to the company.
I do hope to see FTR back. They need some time to recover from what was one of the most intense years of wrestling any team’s ever done. The schedule they went through, all the different places they worked. They worked all over and won championships all over the world. This is a team that competed in AEW but also competed at the top of Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. They were defending championships all over the world, all over the US, in London, Japan, and in Mexico as the AAA Lucha Libre champs.
I think for those guys we want to see them back in AEW and want to see them heal up and come back at a 100% and we are really looking forward to that, hopefully. I think they are a great team and we’d love to have them back.
Regarding reports that the Khan family was interested in potentially buying WWE, the AEW President had the following to say:
I can’t say too much about that except to say that my Dad and I are often exploring acquisitions, often exploring investments in the world of sports and certainly the world of pro wrestling. I think we’ve shown we’re open to making acquisitions, we’re open to making big investments. This is one of those situations where I probably don’t want to say too much and probably shouldn’t say too much except to say that we are very interested in what’s happening and watching it very closely and if there’s a process we’d like to be part of it.
Speaking on his FTR with Dax Harwood podcast, the 38-year-old noted that he and Cash Wheeler have asked AEW for and been granted the next few months off of television. The time off could potentially extend up until their contracts with the promotion expire in April.
Harwood said:
We have asked and been granted the next few months off of television so we can sit back, reflect, decide, let our bodies heal, and figure out what we are going to do for the next few years because whatever we decide to do next will be the absolute last thing we do, period, as far as wrestling.
I don’t see myself in five years going on the independents and wrestling independents. I don’t see myself working in five years a Japan tour or a Mexico tour or traveling around the world and wrestling all over places. That’s why these next few months are the most important few months for us.
By April, at least, at most, we will have an answer. But now again, I have to take in my health, I have to take in my family, I have to take in my creativity, and I have to take my personal life all into consideration about what we are going to do next. I know what I want to do but whatever we do, I just want to be respected. We, I feel, have done something so special in 2022 and most of that is in part to the fans. I think we deserve to continue to build on our legacy for ourselves but also we owe it to the fans to build on that legacy because they made us this past year. So, that’s my news, is we are going to be away for a little while. I’m not sure exactly how long we’ll be away. It may be all the way up until the end of our contract.
He would then confirm that FTR’s contracts with AEW expire in April.
Perhaps in reference to Vince McMahon’s return to WWE, Harwood was then asked if “recent news” will have an impact on what wrestling promotion FTR signs with later this year.
Harwood responded:
I would be lying to you if I said no it doesn’t at all, but, of course, it does.
But if I feel like we aren’t being respected the way I think we should – and that’s going to come off arrogant and egotistical – I mean as entities as far as characters and what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished and who we are, but also as human beings. I will not hesitate to explore other options. Whether those options are taking a year off and doing things we love, that could be it, or whether those options are being presented to me in other forms, there’s a lot of things I have to weigh.
He also said that he and Wheeler are looking at locations for a possible wrestling school, real estate ventures, and potentially opening a coffee shop.
Earlier in the show, Harwood was asked about the reaction to comments he made on a previous podcast regarding CM Punk and The Elite. He had suggested that Punk and The Elite work out their differences for the betterment of AEW and this led to reports that some people in AEW were not happy with what he said.
Harwood responded:
I can give you 100% god’s honest truth, [Punk] has never told me to say anything. He’s never expressed to me that he wants me to paint a certain narrative about him. I can also tell you, god’s honest truth, that he told me, he said, ‘I haven’t even listened to your podcast.’
Guys, he’s a beautiful human being. The Young Bucks are beautiful human beings, okay? All of them are. All I was trying to do was make things right, that’s all. That’s the only thing I was trying to do. Maybe I went too far or maybe it’s not for me to make right but in the moment as a human being who has a heart, who loves wrestling, I tried to make things right and that was all.
If I was wrong for that, and if I upset those guys or even if I upset Punk, I sincerely apologize. If I upset my office, I sincerely apologize. If I upset anybody else who let Dave Meltzer know that the locker room is upset with me, if I upset that person, I sincerely apologize, that was not my goal. My goal was to make AEW better, that’s all.
FTR aren’t upset and don’t blame anyone for their removal from the AEW: Fight Forever video game.
It was reported yesterday that Dash Harwood and Cash Wheeler have been removed from the upcoming game. FTR spoke with GiveMe Sport recently and clarified that they have been told why they were removed and are not upset about it.
“For us, the only real issue was we were kind of blindsided by it. We found out not how you would expect,” Wheeler said. “When you find out something like that, something major, you’ve been taken out of a video game, your mind automatically assumes the worst. So, for us it was like, is this something we need to worry about? Should we read between the lines here? Were we not told for a reason? And now that we are aware, and now that we are out, what is that reason? Is it something we should worry about? We got an answer, it made a lot of sense, a very logical answer. We said, ‘oh, okay cool’ as long as we don’t have to worry about it, non-issue and that’s what it was.”
Wheeler didn’t reveal the reason they had been removed from the game but also expressed that they have known about this for several months.
“I don’t know why it just now became a headline but we’ve known about it for a while. We got answers on it awhile ago and for us, it’s not even an issue or thought about.”
Harwood then clarified that they are not upset and do not blame anyone for their removal from the game.
“We heard about this, I want to say maybe March. It was before the Briscoes match,” he said.
“We text Tony [Khan], talk to him, we text legal, or excuse me legal texted us and we talked with them for a bit. We got our answer and it was a non-issue. Like Cash said, we just wanted to make sure we weren’t doing something wrong.”
Wheeler continued to tell fans not to be upset about their removal but also teased there might be a chance to still use them in the game.
“If it helps kind of settle things, thank you for caring about us but please don’t be upset for us. It’s not an issue and there’ll be a chance to use us anyway, so thank you,” he said.
Happy Friday! Join on-camera personality Denise Salcedo as she recaps both WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage!
Topics include Andrade vs. Rey Fenix with the AEW formation of La Faccion Ingobernable, more matches added to Forbidden Door, and the continued build towards Money in the Bank!
A loaded episode of AEW DYNAMITE with lots to cover! Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo as she breaks down the April 27th edition of Dynamite.
Tonight’s show included: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler, Wardlow vs. Lance Archer, a Philly Street Fight, a TNT Championship ladder match, and more! Tune in for a very fun and lively discussion!
FTR recently addressed reports that WWE is interested in bringing them back.
Speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood said they aren’t sure if WWE really wants them back, or if the company just doesn’t want them to be in AEW. They told Renee that they don’t know anything other than what has been reported publicly about WWE’s interest.
“I think we know about as much as everyone else does,” Harwood said. “We left that place because they didn’t put a focus on tag team wrestling and we knew there was a ceiling to where we could go in the company. We wanted to do more, we wanted to be known as the greatest tag team of all time and we had to leave there to do that.”
Harwood continued to say that they will not talk to other promotions while under contract to AEW.
“I told Tony [Khan], because obviously he heard about it, I told him that there’s no way that we would ever talk contracts with anybody while we were working for him. We have way too much respect for him, and our word means something.”
Harwood continued to speculate as to why WWE would be interested in bringing them back.
“And then I started thinking, ‘Do they want us? Or do they want AEW to not have us? It’s cool for Cody to do what he’s done, but there’s just so many unknowns there. Would they ever focus on tag team wrestling the way we’ve been able to the last two years?”
Wheeler said he’s not sure how much has changed in WWE regarding how the company views tag team wrestling.
“I don’t know how much has changed there as far as what we wanted tag team wrestling to be. And now, we’re getting to show everybody what tag team wrestling can be and what our vision of it is.”
FTR also commented on their match at ROH Supercard of Honor against the Briscoes and what it meant for them.
“I told [Wheeler] after the match was over, that was our Bret-Austin,” Harwood said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever have a better match than that one and that’s okay with me, I can hang my hat on that. I can hang my hat on that whole week, them and the Bucks match. But specifically that match, I can hang my proverbially wrestling hat on that match.”
“I was so proud of what we were able to do with those guys because of how long and how unsure it was building up to it and the fact that we didn’t know up until two weeks prior that it was going to happen,” Wheeler added.
While FTR are the current ROH and AAA World Tag Team Champions, they also mentioned that winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team belts is something they hope to achieve.
“I have two things that are very high on the list for me, we want to be the first-ever two-time AEW Tag Team Champions. Until then or after then, we want the IWGP tag team titles and that’s very, very important to us and that’s something we’ve wanted to do for awhile,” Wheeler said.
Harwood continued to say that winning the IWGP titles would solidify them as the greatest tag team of all time.
“If we do get the opportunity to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships, we’ll be the only tag team in history to hold WWE’s Raw, Smackdown, NXT, AEW, AAA, ROH, and IWGP but if we do all that, if we hold all those titles, is there a debate anymore?”
CM Punk will be the guest commentator for the Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler match that will take place this Wednesday.
Tony Khan confirmed on Twitter that Punk would be the special guest commentator for the match.
“For the first time ever, it’s a Dynamite dream match as @DaxFTR + @CashWheelerFTR will wrestle each other one-on-one in an #OwenHart Men’s Tournament Qualifier Match,” Khan wrote. “Your special guest commentator: @CMPunk. Dax vs Cash on #AEWDynamite. LIVE this Wednesday @ 8pm ET/ 7pm CT on TBS.”
Samoa Joe, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole have already qualified for the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. The tournament will begin next month, with the finals taking place at AEW Double or Nothing on May 29.
Here is the card so far for this week’s Dynamite:
Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb street fight
Lance Archer vs. Wardlow
Owen Hart Foundation Tournament qualifier: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler
TNT Champion Sammy Guevara defends against Scorpio Sky in a ladder match
The Undisputed Elite vs. Varsity Blonds, Dante Martin, Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson
FTR says they pitched the idea of facing each other in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament qualifying match but are not interested in ever breaking up their team.
Appearing on the 300th episode of the Wrestling Perspectives podcast, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood spoke about having to “fight for” being able to face each other in the tournament qualifier.
“That was our idea, totally,” Harwood said. “We had to fight for it but that was completely our idea. We’ve always wanted to have a match but we didn’t want to just have a match just to have a match, there had to be a reason. This is the perfect reason to do it. The Hart family means a lot to both of us personally and professionally and so being able to show respect to Owen Hart and his whole family, what better way to do it than allowing the two biggest Hart family fans in the world [to] compete?”
“There was no way for Owen to get the tribute he deserved and now we have a platform for that,” Wheeler added.
He continued to say that despite wanting to face each other, they have no interest in ever splitting apart their team.
“For years we’d be like, ‘How can we make it make sense? How can we have a singles match against each other, just a straight up back and forth wrestling match in our vision?'” Wheeler said. “There was no way to really make it make sense anytime before because we don’t ever want to tease a break up, do a break up, no interest in that. I’ll retire before we ever even entertain that idea , just I’ll say that right here right now, print it, tattoo it, I don’t care, we’re never going to do a break up angle.”
“When we heard about the Owen, we were like, ‘We gotta go to Tony with the idea of the singles match’ and he did like it but he was like, ‘Ok, I gotta see if I can make it make sense’ and we just stayed on him about it.”
Dave Meltzer is reporting that FTR has more than a year left on their current contract, not including the option year. The original story can be seen below.
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WWE is reportedly interested in bringing back the team formerly known as The Revival.
According to a report from Fightful Select, there have been internal discussions in WWE about bringing back the team now known as FTR. Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler’s deals with AEW will expire this summer but the company has the option to extend their contracts by one year.
FTR debuted in AEW on the May 27, 2020 edition of Dynamite. WWE had granted them their releases in April 2020. The team had reportedly turned down five-year renewals on their contracts before leaving the company.
Harwood signed with WWE in 2012 and Wheeler signed in 2014. During their time as the Revival in WWE, they were two-time NXT Tag Team Champions, two-time RAW Tag Team Champions, and one-time Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Since leaving WWE and signing with AEW, FTR are one-time AEW World Tag Team Champions, one-time AAA World Tag Team Champions (current), and one-time ROH World Tag Team Champions (current).
Former AEW Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood opened up about his past struggles with both anxiety and bulimia on the latest edition of Renee Paquette’s podcast, also telling a story about how Shawn Michaels made an odd decision at WWE Raw 25 after a heartfelt conversation between the two.
Both he and Cash Wheeler were set to get a beatdown from DX and Balor Club at 2018’s WWE Raw 25 after a match with Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson and that he had some hesitations about how it would make the then-The Revival look. He said he was catching up with Michaels backstage from their days together at the Performance Center, talking about the issues he and Wheeler had recently gone through with recent injuries and that he personally had been in a dark place but that his wife helped pull him through.
Harwood said Michaels, who had praised the two men at the PC, opened up to him and said he had a similar story with his wife also getting him through his own rough patches. Harwood said it was a real bonding moment and then later when Michaels was with the rest of DX in the back with The Revival, he began making fun of Harwood’s biceps injury and other issues, seemingly out of nowhere.
He said after the segment was done, only one DX member said thanks to the team and was cool with them: Sean “X-Pac” Waltman.
“Everyone else was so cold and treated us like we were sh*t on the bottom of their shoes,” he said, adding that while he will never forget that feeling, he would like to have a conversation with Michaels about it someday.
Harwood also said he isn’t sure when the highly-anticipated FTR match with The Briscoe Brothers will happen and that in real life, he thinks they feel they are better than FTR. He also said he didn’t know why GCW booked the Briscoes open challenge at WRLD on GCW like they did because everyone assumed it was going to be them and they obviously weren’t booked for the show.
He added that promoters have offered the two teams a lot of money to do the match and suggested Paquette ask AEW’s Tony Khan what the story is. He also wanted to know from Khan when they were going to work with the Young Bucks again, joking that Khan “forgot they work there.”
Other notes:
Harwood also went into detail about his struggles with bulimia starting in high school and then anxiety which began last June. Through therapy, it was discovered the latter stemmed from a miscarriage he and his wife had, causing major sleep issues for months. He credited his wife, the therapy and his relationship with God on his improvements.
He said that leading into FTR’s much-anticipated match with the Bucks, he couldn’t sleep for two weeks because he was worried about whether it would deliver what fans were expecting with that much buildup.
He said his issues with bulimia and body dysmorphia started in high school when he was embarrassed how much weight he was putting on after his run playing football was done. He learned that his friend that was living with his family was also throwing up once a day and when Wheeler learned why he was doing it and the results, he also did it and it became a daily addiction. He said that feeling of being ashamed of his body still bothers him today, especially with social media, and that he hopes his daughter never gets involved in the business so she doesn’t have to deal with the same issues.
He talked about how he and Wheeler’s WWE release came about in 2020 and that despite the company throwing increased money offers at he and Wheeler, they knew they weren’t going to get the opportunity they deserved. He said his wife was having health issues and he wanted to be released sooner to be at home with her. He estimated he had two months remaining and was WWE told him they would extend his deal through August 2020 due to his injuries unless he and Wheeler signed over their trademarks at which point they would get their immediate release. He estimated he and Wheeler had spent $10,000-$20,000 on the various trademarks, but decided it wasn’t worth it to keep them.
