Dax Harwood is a lot of things; he's an AEW superstar, a tag team specialist with two different championship belts around his waist, and as of December of 2022, he can add podcaster to his list of descriptors, as, with William Regal heading back to WWE, the man nicknamed “The Ax” is set to take over hosting a program for Ad Free Shows alongside his new co-host, Matt Koon.

Though the show, dubbed FTR with Dax Harwood, won't officially launch until December 29th, Harwood made an appearance on a sort of bridge episode that said goodbye to “The Gentleman Villian,” Regal, and introduced the new concept to the audience.

Fortunately, Harwood, never one to avoid controversy, decided to make this episode count and kicked off his involvement with the show by discussing his relationship past, present, and future with none other than Cody Rhodes, the lightning rod “American Nightmare” who now calls WWE home after helping to launch AEW.

“Before I came to AEW, I had a issue with Cody [Rhodes], which I've talked to him about,” Harwood said (h/t Wrestling Headlines). “He did a podcast with Sam Roberts and Sam Roberts goes ‘I'm going to ask you point blank. Who's better [The Revival] or The Young Bucks?’ Without skipping a beat, he said ‘The Young Bucks because [The Revival], they have to practice their matches and The Young Bucks, they don't.”

“I took issue with that because in 18 years now, at that point, I think it was like 15 years or whatever, 14 years, I've never, ever, ever, ever, ever practiced a match in my life, and I will never practice a match in my life. That goes to the Speedball (Mike Bailey) match you saw at WrestleCade. He wanted to practice in the back and I said, ‘Speedball, I'm sorry, I don't do that, and I'm not going to start today.' But that really ate at me because all the stuff that we had built up and we had worked so hard to create, I felt that he was taking a sh*t on that by saying we practice our matches. But I got over that. Even though it doesn't sound like it, I did. I got over it. He and I are very good friends. We talk all the time now. I think that he is a visionary, I think he is too smart for his own good, and I hope to be able to work with him very, very soon because I mean, I think I could tear it up with him.”

Oh no, what does Harwood mean? Will he be working with Rhodes, like, in the ring, aka he'll be returning to WWE alongside Cash Wheeler in a reformed The Revival? Or could Harwood simply mean he'd like to bring Rhodes onto his podcast to shoot on their runs together in WWE, AEW, and as fathers? For all of the speculation running around the web, it's clear fans won't learn the answer until a bit further down the line.

Dax Harwood remains adamant he worked his masterpiece outside of AEW.

Elsewhere in his maiden-yet-not-quite-debut podcast, Harwood decided to further discuss his match with The Briscoes at Ring of Honor Final Battle and not only celebrated what he considers to be his in-ring masterpiece but discussed the physical ramifications of taking part in a double dog-collar match.

“Well the match, the outcome… I talked to Cash about this and I always wondered why Bret Hart said the match with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 was his greatest match ever,” Harwood said (h/t Fightful). “I love the match, I think it’s incredible. But I always thought, and he’s had matches that were technically better than that one, but as soon as that bell rung when we were finished, I knew right then why he thought that was his greatest match ever, as I feel about the Dog Collar match.”

“I think the Dog Collar match, and I’m not a gimmick wrestler, I’m not a Blood & Guts kind of wrestler. I’m a lock up, gritty wrestler that tries to use wrestling holds or wrestling moves to tell the stories. But after that bell rung, after that last bell, I knew that was the greatest masterpiece I’ve ever structured and put together. It was a very emotional time for me walking to the back with those guys. It’s very cliche for me to say but it was indescribable. Physically, I feel like sh*t. I was telling you before we started recording that I still have a huge bruise on my a–, my lower back is in shambles. That’s the thing that I don’t understand about some of the wrestling today, is that they take these bumps and they get these bruises in these matches and then they get right back up. We’re kinda telling people that once you’ve fought for the last thirty, forty, twenty, however old you are years, it’s true that it’s fake, but it’s not fake when I’m flying home in discomfort. It’s not fake when I do get home and I can’t play with my eight-year-old daughter because I feel so physically bad. That’s one of the things that I wanted to express here is that wrestling is an art form and in my opinion, it’s the most beautiful art form, but man it does take a toll on your body.”

Considering even Dave Meltzer, the proprietor of The Wrestling Observer who has firmly been in team Young Bucks – at least in the perception of fans – gave all three FTR-Briscoes matches five stars, with the double dog-collar match breezing past the “perfect” grade to a 5.5 star rating, it's clear most fans agree that Harwood, Wheeler, Jay, and Mark put on one of the best matches of the year and may ultimately win Match of the Year honors as a result. Though he may struggle to play with his daughter at the moment, history will likely prove that sacrifice is worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKsyL6gzMLA