CM Punk sent a message to his fans during Thursday’s FTR with Dax Harwood Live event.
Harwood took time during his live show to read a multi-part text message from Punk. After asking Punk if he wanted to send a message to the fans, Harwood said that Punk replied: “Yes” and “I miss them.”
After a chant for Punk then broke out, Harwood stated that Punk also said “I wish I bought them all ice cream.”
Earlier on Thursday, Harwood posted photos of himself with Punk, and his FTR tag team partner Cash Wheeler.
Punk was suspended following a backstage altercation with The Elite following comments he made during the post-AEW All Out media scrum in September 2022. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were also suspended following the altercation, but have since returned to AEW television.
Punk suffered a torn left triceps in his All Out AEW World title match against Jon Moxley, and underwent surgery to repair the injury in September.
Dax Harwood says nothing has changed between FTR and AEW.
Harwood’s tag team with Cash Wheeler returned to AEW for the first time since December at Revolution on Sunday. They attacked The Gunns following the four-way tag team title match on the show.
FTR’s return does not mean they have re-signed with AEW, however. Harwood noted on an episode of his podcast released Wednesday that, as of that recording, FTR still have just one month and 18 days left on their contracts.
Harwood said:
Zero has changed, let’s put it that way. We got a call from Tony and this was, maybe, five days before the pay-per-view, maybe, it could have been four days before the pay-per-view. I don’t know and I’m just guessing that he either heard a clip, listened to the podcast, or read one of the headlines where I said we were ready to come back, our bodies were healed, we were just waiting for the call and we wanted to do what was right by the business because we are contracted through April.
He continued to speak about what FTR may do when their AEW contracts expire next month.
Our choice right now is strictly on happiness, that’s all. The pros of staying in AEW is a great schedule where I can come home and be with my family. The pros of WWE is they are the number one, at least and for the foreseeable future too, they are the number one money-making profession wrestling company in the world and monetarily, they could offer us a great deal too. But WWE, I don’t feel like we would have the kind of schedule that we would like. Another pro for AEW is, unless Tony changes his mind come April, we will be able to do independent bookings, great relationship with New Japan where we can go.
Doing New Japan, doing the independents, going out and being able to do comic-cons and things and meeting some of our fans, those are the pros in AEW. WWE, they are on a creative high right now and I think that they could be able to keep that creative high up.
Regarding FTR’s relationship with AEW following Revolution, Harwood continued to say that “nothing has changed.”
Nothing has changed and please allow everything to play out because come April you will be able to understand what we’re doing and where we are going.
AEW is in Sacramento for Dynamite and Rampage tonight. Neither FTR nor the Gunns are currently advertised for the show.
Dax Harwood has a opened up on his time in The Pinnacle.
Harwood addressed the AEW faction during the latest episode of FTR with Dax Harwood. He spoke about a promo segment the group had the week after forming in March 2021 and MJF not wanting Tully Blanchard to have time to talk during it.
Harwood said:
Max was the one doing all the talking and Tully was just sitting there. So, I told you the previous week, if you have a manager, the manager has to be a difference maker in your career because if he’s not a difference maker in your career then why is he there?
Me and Cash, we would sacrifice us and sacrifice our ‘cool stuff’ to give something to Tully, always. Whether it was in the match with – we’ll talk about it later – Darby and Sting where Tully was the factor and the reason the match ended. We always gave him time to talk because if we didn’t then our group was dead in the water because then it was just three people together.
So, before this promo, I remember talking to Max and I said, ‘Hey, I think we should allow Tully to do something, some of the talking,’ because that promo was 10 minutes long or whatever. Max was like, ‘No no, I really think I should do all the talking.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but we’ve got one of the greatest talkers of all time, Tully Blanchard, and he’s our manager and he’s the reason we’re all tied together, I think he should say a little something.’ Max didn’t see that my way and so Tully just sat in the back and so did everybody else.
Later in the show, a write-in question asked Harwood if he could go back and change anything from his time in the Pinnacle, what would it be?
Harwood responded:
I wouldn’t have joined it, that would be what I’d change.
Harwood would continue to say that one member of the faction may have felt as though they were “bigger than the group.”
I think one person in the group probably thought that he was bigger than the group, maybe, and probably felt that this was just designed for him, maybe, and maybe he wasn’t the only person that thought that too.
I think, at first, someone and maybe a couple of other people outside of our group too, felt that this was a vehicle for just [MJF] and them. We felt, us and Wardlow, we felt that – and I say us being me, Cash, Spears, and Wardlow – felt that if we all worked together, we could all get over, and we could all get each other over. And obviously Max was going to be the main event guy winning the world belt, we knew that, but we felt that everybody could benefit from this group and, in turn, benefit who we individually work with and, in turn, benefit AEW’s business. It just didn’t pan out that way.
Last week, AEW congratulated some members of its roster who were voted winners in the 2022 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards. However, the company did not acknowledge FTR winning the tag team of the year and did not mention them being involved in the feud of the year with the Briscoes. Harwood also commented on this slight during his podcast.
Harwood said:
I did feel slighted, I can’t lie. It was just because we worked so hard last year and we did, with what I feel was not the best content, not the best effort to maximize our momentum from last year, I feel we did our best to make everything work. For them not to acknowledge us, it hurt me a bit because – and I’m sure Road Dogg will say I’m taking this too seriously – but it did hurt me a bit because I worked so hard last year. Cash and I both worked so extremely hard to make 2022 a year that will go down in the FTR history books.
I’m just so glad that they did at least acknowledge the Briscoes and give Jay that moment to shine.
I started thinking, we are a team that’s got a little bit of buzz about us, we’ve been doing this awhile and we have no clue, they have no clue more importantly, what our future is going to be. So, should I really be upset at the fact that they omitted us? Because I don’t know if I owned the company and I didn’t know if my employee or my talent or whatever was going to be there in a month, would I highlight him or her?
Harwood was then asked to comment on those who think FTR might be working an angle to make it look as though there are bad feelings between them and AEW. He was asked about the possibility of FTR being the jokers in Wednesday’s Tag Team Casino Royale.
I can’t tell you the truth, I wouldn’t want to do that to AEW, I wouldn’t want to do that to us, whatever that truth is. Whether we will be there in the battle royal or not, I wouldn’t want to ruin that for anybody, the fans included. So, I will say, just watch Wednesday and we’ll see.
He continued to say, however, that he was not working an angle when he posted to Twitter about AEW not mentioning FTR’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards. Harwood also mentioned that FTR have told AEW they are ready to comeback and would work until their contracts expire in April. He said they haven’t heard back from the company and get the sense they are not very happy with them.
Dax Harwood says Vince McMahon’s return to WWE “makes things a little questionable” for him.
Speaking on an episode of FTR with Dax Harwood, the 38-year-old reflected on a negative interaction with McMahon from Clash of the Champions 2019 and how it could impact what he decides to do in the future.
Harwood said:
He goes to New Day and says, ‘Hey, great job, guys, thank you, I appreciate that.’ They walk off, he leaves me and Cash there and that’s when he says, ‘Everyone tells me that you guys are the next great tag team, everyone tells me you’re the next Arn and Tully. Well, that’s your problem, you are the next Arn and Tully, you’re just great wrestlers, that’s all.’ And he walks off and like, this son of a b***h thinks that he just hurt my feelings by saying that but he didn’t, he made my dreams come true by telling me that we’re the next Arn and Tully, that we’re just a great tag team, we’re just great wrestlers.
He just didn’t like us, he wasn’t enamored with us.
On a previous podcast episode, Harwood revealed that his AEW contract expires in April.
He would continue to speak about what McMahon being back “at the helm” in WWE means for his future.
We were so proud of that moment and he decided to take a s**t on us in that moment. That’s the kind of thing, as a human being, I will never forget how you try to make people feel.
The fans were with us so, obviously, we didn’t hurt your business. We went out there, put our life on the line for you, for your company and coming to the back with as much enorphins running through our body and you decide to say that to us?
That’s one of the things I can’t ever forget and we talk about what I’m going to do in the future and now that I think about that and with him back at the helm makes things a little questionable for me.
Earlier in the show, Harwood also addressed how much money he was earning during his time on WWE’s main roster.
If you look back in 2019, I was number one, [Wade] Barrett and Cash [Wheeler] were tied for number two as far as most matches in 2019 for WWE. So, we were on the road every single week.
So when you think I’ve signed this million-dollar contract or whatever, it’s not that lucrative. Our contracts were the very bottom dollar. I’ll tell you mine, I don’t know about Cash’s but our first contract for the main roster was 125, 150, 175 across the three years and that was it.
Harwood would continue to say it was possible to earn more than that, however, through merchandise sales, pay-per-view bonuses, and house shows.
If I’m on the road five days a week and I’m spending breakfast, lunch, and dinner all five days a week, let’s not even talk about snacks or whatever, breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week on the road while my wife is at home cooking and paying for groceries for her and my daughter and then I’m paying for rental cars and then I’m paying for hotels, I’m not making as much money as you think.
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.
Dax Harwood has opened up about several topics including Colt Cabana, CM Punk, and camaraderie in the AEW locker room.
The debut episode of FTR with Dax Harwood was released Wednesday for subscribers to the AdFreeShows Patreon. The episode will be available for non-subscribers beginning Thursday. Harwood also made a plea for Punk and The Elite to “find a way to make it work” for the betterment of the business during the show.
Harwood on Colt Cabana:
I don’t know Colt very well. The very first day we were in the company, I could be wrong, I just felt that Colt didn’t like us. There were some people there that didn’t like us. I remember that he made fun of my accent the very first day and I wasn’t very happy with that.
I take offense to that and maybe I shouldn’t but if people knew my backstory and how hard I worked to get the education that I got.
I was in college and my mom and dad both lost their jobs within a month of each other. I had nobody to help me with rent or books or food or anything. So, I had to work three jobs plus wrestling on the weekends just so I could pay for my college. I paid for my own college and got a degree at UNCW and a bachelor’s in English and a bachelor’s in business communication. It was all through my efforts and if the people saw the sleepless nights that I had, the nights that I cried because I was worried that I wasn’t going to get this or the nights I had negative dollars in my bank account because I was paying for books or putting things on credit cards and stuff like that, I think maybe they could understand it then. But for him to make fun of my accent because the connotation is if you’re a southerner, you’re stupid. That bothers me and maybe I shouldn’t let it bother me. So, that was the very first run-in I ever had with Colt but other than that, I’ve never really had a conversation with him, never talked to him, nothing like that.
On if he knew the extent of the problems between Punk and Cabana:
No one said anything to me. I heard nothing but when he first got there, no one said anything, and to be honest, I really had no idea that there was any kind of problem between the two. I knew there were issues with the lawsuit with the doctor but I had no idea the extent of the problems they may have had and I never cared to ask because it’s none of my business.
No one ever said anything to me, and I say no one Punk included, Colt included, they never mentioned any kind of ill feelings towards one another.
When asked if there was a divide in the AEW locker room, Harwood stated that “everybody in that male locker room gets along great,” but would clarify that there are male wrestlers in AEW who have their own locker rooms.
There are people who have their own locker rooms, for sure. That’s just where I spend the majority of my time, in the male locker room, which sounds weird for me to say out loud but that’s where I hang out, that’s where my friends are, that’s where my buddies are.
I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this but Orange Cassidy, we’re good buddies and we have a drink. Trent Beretta, same thing, Chuck, same thing, obviously, Cash. We love the camaraderie of each other and we love the locker room that we’re in and we make sure that everyone knows that.
On the debut edition of his FTR podcast that launches Wednesday, FTR’s Dax Harwood went deep into the AEW situation between CM Punk, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega which included a plea to all parties to work things out for the betterment of the business.
Transcriptions below are from Fightful as our outlet was not provided an advance copy.
Harwood said he isn’t sure if Punk will ever return to AEW, but hopes that he does as he wants a locker room that the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Punk are all part of. He made a plea to all four men involved to “please find a way to make it work” to better the future of the business.
“If we can make it work, we can set up the future of professional wrestling for a long time and we can change the course of professional wrestling for a very long time. When you think about it, unselfishly, we are doing this for (wrestlers) 20-30 years down the road so guys and girls can make a living,” he said.
Going into detail about All Out, Harwood said everyone was having a good time backstage and it wasn’t until he and his family were back at the hotel that he began hearing about what had transpired via text messages from others.
He said he got a FaceTime from Punk himself shortly after, still covered in blood from his match with Jon Moxley, who told him about what happened as Harwood listened in disbelief.
“He said, ‘I want to let you know you’re going to hear some things. I want you to hear it from me. This is what happened.’ I said, ‘Dude, are you okay? Do you need anything? I’ll come right now to help you out, get you cleaned.’ ‘No, no, everything is fine. It’s died down. We’re good.’ That’s when I first heard about it,” Harwood explained.
He said he isn’t sure what the real story is and has questioned some of the elements that are being reported as they “raise a red flag” to him while saying he has heard some bits of truth from others he has spoken with. Regardless, he said he wishes fans would let the situation go.
“I think (fans) should let what happened happen and let it die down. When it’s all said and done, I can’t tell you that I know 100% of the truth and I can’t tell you that the journalists’ reporting is 100% of the truth. I know what I perceive to be the truth and from the things I’ve read and heard, there is partial truth and partial things that are a bit exaggerated,” he said.
Harwood said that in talking with Punk, he learned that he didn’t want the AEW title and wanted to just have fun as he was “still so joyous and happy to be in the wrestling business.” However, he did so because he knew it would help the company.
Nearly a week removed from Final Battle, Dax Harwood is reflecting on FTR and The Briscoes’ “masterpiece” double dog collar match.
FTR and The Briscoes completed their trilogy as The Briscoes won the ROH Tag Team titles at Final Battle last Saturday. The dog collar match was rated five and a half stars by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
In a social media post on Thursday, Harwood wrote that, over every match he’s had in his career, the dog collar match is the one he’s most proud of.
Artists have the one piece they’re the most proud of, and that’s their Masterpiece. This was my Masterpiece. Watching it, honest to God, I’ve laughed, I’ve cringed, and I’ve cried. Over every other match I’ve had, this is the one I’m the most proud of.
2022 has been a storybook year for me. Almost unbelievable at times. Through anger, frustration, joy, and pain, it’s been the greatest year of my life. Thank you all for allowing me to be a part of yours. I hope we could make it a little bit better.
2023 is going to be unknown territory, and I’m not even sure that we can match up to what we’ve done this year, but you all have my word, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re just as entertained as ever.
Harwood & Cash Wheeler’s ROH Tag Team title reign began when they defeated The Briscoes at Supercard of Honor this April. They also defeated The Briscoes in a two-out-of-three falls match at Death Before Dishonor in July.
By defeating FTR at Final Battle, The Briscoes became 13-time ROH Tag Team Champions.
FTR are still the IWGP and AAA Tag Team Champions. They’re set to defend the AAA titles against Dragon Lee & Dralistico in Mexico later this month. In January, FTR will defend the IWGP Tag Team titles against Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Dax Harwood says FTR has considered taking a year off from wrestling on television.
Harwood spoke to Fightful recently and noted that he believes FTR’s AEW contracts expire next April. He also said he has loyalty to both WWE’s Paul “Triple H” Levesque and AEW’s Tony Khan.
“Hunter took a chance on us in 2015 and he put the tag belts on a relatively unknown, relatively unproven tag team and he let us run with it, and then he gave us American Alpha, and he gave us Enzo & Cass, and he gave us DIY, and he gave us that platform,” Harwood said. “Then we went to the main roster and things happened. When we were ready to go, Tony Khan picked us up. So, I have loyalty to both of these guys for what they have done for me and done for my family.”
“Cash and I have talked, our deals come up at the end of April, I would have to talk to my lawyer, Mike Dockins, but I think that’s right, the end of April. And we’ve even thought about, ‘What if we took a year off TV wrestling?'”
“Take a year off TV wrestling, maybe, and do things that excite us. We’ve been able to do that quite a bit this year starting with the Rock N Roll Express match,” Harwood continued.
“If we do take a year off of TV wrestling, I don’t think you’ll not see us, you might not see us mainstream but it would be so Cash and I can, one, rest our bodies, and two, we can do things that make us happy and bring joy to us.”
As noted in Wednesday’s Daily Update, Harwood also spoke about CM Punk during the interview.
“A man who obviously has his detractors and sometimes the detractors, and not just in AEW – around the wrestling world, and sometimes the detractors are louder than him and get their news out more than him. But again, it all comes from a place of passion. When he first came into the company, I remember talking to Cash (Wheeler) and I said, ‘if this motherf—er comes in and if he says something to me about how I dress, dress code or whatever, we’re going to have a problem’ and he came in, and he was the complete opposite. He had his door always open, invited people in, watched matches of the young wrestlers that asked him to, stuck around until the end of the show and anybody that had questions, he would answer the questions. He loves wrestling. Just like me, unabashedly is a professional wrestling fan. Just like Sasha (Banks), I talk to him every day and whatever he decides to do, I hope it brings him happiness and joy because he deserves it.”
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.
It was a wild night of wrestling, the August 24th edition of AEW Dynamite had a lot of fans asking a lot of questions.
The Jon Moxley vs CM Punk match played out differently that many had expected, Thunder Rosa is out with an injury, lots of matches were made for AEW All Out! Join on-camera personality Denise Salcedo as she reacts and breaks down the events that took place!
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio after a two week hiatus talking all the latest news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter including stories on the business of Ric Flair’s Last Match, Warner Bros. Discovery, Karl Fredericks, Daniel Bryan & the Miz, and Dana White at WrestleMania 34.
We also talk about all the media Dave has been doing of late including Talk Is Jericho, and the Sports Illustrated’s Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina. We look at AEW TV ratings and the G1. We also talk about Dax Harwood’s tweet about Dave and why he posted it.
“Dax Harwood is the latest AEW wrestler working with a torn labrum,” Meltzer wrote. “After the Briscoes match, he came out of it with a swollen eye, a stiff neck and his bad shoulder was worse.”
The day after the ROH pay-per-view, Harwood took to social media to comment on his injuries.
“The day after Death Before Dishonor. Swollen eye, stiff neck, fucked up shoulder, but you keep going. All for the love of the game,” he wrote.
Harwood isn’t the only AEW wrestler working through a torn labrum at the moment. Adam Cole is scheduled to return next week and has opted to forgo surgery for the same injury. According to a report from Fightful, Cole has been dealing with the torn labrum since his title program with Hangman Page earlier this year.
FTR’s Dax Harwood will make his NJPW Strong debut at High Alert on July 24.
Harwood and partner Cash Wheeler captured NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles last month at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, and now he will have his first official NJPW match.
Harwood’s debut bout against Rocky Romero is one of four new matches announced for the High Alert taping.
Also added to the card, KUSHIDA and Ren Narita will team against JD Drake and Anthony Henry of The WorkHorsemen.
In another singles bout, JR Kratos will face Drew Adler. Additionally, John Skyler will face Lucky Ali.
The finals of the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team title tournament, Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado vs. Clark Connors, plus AEW’s Eddie Kingston vs. Jake Something are already set for Charlotte, North Carolina on the 24th.
Here is the lineup so far:
NJPW Strong: High Alert, Sunday, July 24 —
NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship Tournament finals
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado vs. Clark Connors
