When Excalibur announced on AEW Rampage that fans would be hearing from the members of FTR, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, on Collision, it left more than a few fans rushing to their DVRs to guarantee they wouldn't miss the segment.
Now granted, few, if any, fans were expecting to see Wheeler address his recent arrest for third-degree assault with a deadly weapon in a casual interview with Tony Schiavone on television, as that case is still ongoing and may remain as such for the foreseeable future, but landing some clarity, even if it's just hearing the duo in person say that their rubber match with the Young Bucks at All In is still on and they intent to be good examples for young wrestling fans, as they are technically still coded as babyfaces, would be nice.
Did the voices of Wheeler and Harwood come through the speakers of fans watching along at home? Yes, technically, that did happen, so no one can credibly call false advertising, but everyone else AEW fans were supposed to “hear from” on the show also featured at least some face time, with Miro doing his job digitally after watching Powerhouse Hobbs secure a win over indie stalwart Kevin Ku. This segment, however, did not feature a second of “real” face time from either FTR member, with their words sounding like they were pulled from a previously recorded conversation, maybe even over a webcam, instead of intentionally recorded for the show as a way for fans to get hyped for the match.
Should fans feel better about FTR-Young Bucks III after this video package? Sure, if you were hoping to hear that the match was still going to happen, then you can likely breathe a sigh of relief that said baseline was cleared, but the sheer levels of weirdness put off by the segment already has some fans calling foul on social media, as some explicitly set aside time on their busy Saturday night to see the segment live, only to be left with something AEW social media would have thrown together in the lead-up to the match instead of committed a full minute of Collision to play.
All things considered, if this segment was supposed to make fans feel better about FTR's status heading into All In, it might have done the exact opposite, as not being able to get the Hardoowd and Wheeler into Lexington, Kentucky – or a viable studio space – to cut a one-minute promo presents more questions than answers.
Booker T weighs in on Cash Wheeler's situation.
When news broke that Cash Wheeler had been arrested less than two weeks before All In, fans from across the professional wrestling world weighed in on his situation, including Booker T, also saw his wrestling aspirations called into question when he was arrested in the late 1980s for taking part in the robbery of a Wendy's.
“So we got to talk about this Cash Wheeler situation. I was arrested for aggravated assault with a firearm. That’s a serious charge, bro. That isn’t that. I mean, and I’m going to tell you right now, I’m looking at the headlines all over the headlines. All the stories right now…..Hey, man, my thing is this. I don’t know what the situation was. I was reading. I was reading. I didn’t find out what the actual story was. Yeah. Ron DeSantis… he doesn’t mind. Everybody can carry a gun. No, seriously. I mean, just like here. I mean. I mean seriously. I mean, just like here. I mean, where you can carry it well. And these are the situations that come from it. Just imagine if somebody. Somebody gets shot and gets killed. You know what I mean? Over a road rage situation. That’s why when I’m driving, man, I’m never in a hurry. I get out of their way if someone wants to speed around me. I let them go. But some of these drivers, they. They want to be in the fast lane, and you come upon them, and they stay there and know you’re behind them. They know you’re behind them, but they want to play games, you know, instead of just getting over being not being kind and courteous because that is the fast lane. But people want to play games, and then stuff like that happens. But if you are high-strung, you could find yourself in a situation and prison for the rest of your life or death,” Booker T said via PW Mania.
“Well, I can tell you right now, I never got in a road rage incident where I had to get out of my car and pull out a gun on anybody in 30 years. Yeah, that just never happened. You know, just because I’m not high-strung there again, and I don’t have a gun in my car where I want it. It bowls me and gives me that power to where I want to get out of my car. That’s the problem. You know, people can say whatever they want to say, but that’s the problem. That gun in the car gives you a whole lot of power. You know what I mean? It makes you feel like you can, you know, get out of your car and do something.
“And that’s why he’s charged. That’s why he’s, whatever happened, the incident defused itself. And if he brandished it, he got a problem. And I will tell you right now if he’s branched it and somebody’s got it on tape. Like most people do these days, he’s got a problem. So they’re, again, having that power, man. I’ve never been a good guy or anything like that. I mean, of course, I have home protection just for somebody. Think they can just run up here? Yeah. You are going to get shot. But, I’m not the type to go out and, you know, carry it in my car, you know, pull it on someone. If I get into a confrontation with them, if I get into a confrontation with somebody, you know, hopefully, he’s a man, and I’m a man. If he didn’t pull out a gun, I’m not going to pull out one, you know, if I do get one. Wheeler has found himself in a little situation. Cash Wheeler being from the organization, found himself in a little situation, and hopefully, he’ll find his way out of it.”
When Booker T plead guilty to his aggravated assault charge in 1987, he was given a sentence of five years in prison but was released 19 months later and ultimately placed on parole until 1992. While only time will tell what the future holds for Wheeler's case, as his case is certainly different than the one Booker faced, the two-time WWE Hall of Famer's words should be heeded by fans and wrestlers alike in the future, as it's a shame to potentially throw a period of one's life away over something so trivial.