When FTR, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, emerged at the end of the penultimate match at AEW Revolution to get into a little brawl with the once and current AEW World Tag Team Champions, The Gunns, it felt like a big deal.
Sure, technically, Harwood had been priming fans for the return for weeks, noting that FTR would happily accept a return to television before their contracts expired months after they were granted time off to re-evaluate their futures, and the duo seem to have seemed to soften on the prospects of extending their stay in the promotion.
And yet, when Harwood was asked about his status in AEW following Revolution, the tag team specialist let it be known that “nothing has changed.”
“Zero has changed,” Harwood said via F4W. “We got a call from Tony, this was maybe five days before the pay-per-view. I don't know, I'm just guessing. He either heard a clip, this was the podcast where the headline was, I said we were ready to comeback, our bodies were healed, we wanted to do right by business because we are contracted. Cash and I aren't trying to hold up anybody. We're not trying to play the game, ‘they're offering us this, they're gonna offer us this.' It's not about that. Money is a big factor, but it's about what's going to make us happy. There are a ton of options. Tony Khan is onto something incredible, changing the industry, over the last three or four years, he's done exactly that. Whatever you want to say, he's completely changed our industry.”
Did Harwood use his podcast to engineer FTR's return to AEW at Revolution? Maybe or maybe it was a happy accident thanks to his quotes being aggregated by the media. Either way, it's clear this return to face-off against The Gunns could help to tip the scales in AEW's favor, as FTR are currently weighing their options for the future.
Dax Harwood dishes on the pros and cons of FTR in AEW and WWE.
Later in FTR the podcast, Harwood discussed how choosing between AEW and WWE isn't as simple as “one good, one bad,” as there are benefits to both promotions.
“For monetary gain, I would never play someone, especially someone as who I'm as close to as I am with Tony, especially someone who I was close to with Hunter, who I owe a lot to,” Harwood said. “I would never play that for monetary gain. Our choice, right now, is strictly on happiness. The pros of staying in AEW is the great schedule where I can come home and be with my family. The pros of WWE is they are the number one money-making wrestling company in the world. They can offer us a great deal, but I don't feel we could have the kind of schedule we would like. Another pro for AEW is that, unless Tony changes his mind come April, we would be able to do independent bookings, great relationship with New Japan, doing Comic Cons, and meeting our fans. In WWE, they're on a creative high right now, and I think they could keep that creative high up. They are the number one wrestling promotion, one of the top entertainment acts in the world, and have a proven track record. Strictly comes down to happiness. I don't want to say that report is right or wrong because it doesn't matter. Half the people are going to on Twitter and say I'm lying or trying to work.”
Will half of the people go on Twitter and say he's lying or trying to work? Most definitely, if FTR re-signs with AEW, fans will forever wonder how long the return was in the works and whether or not Khan would actually bring the team back when he knew they were going to be leaving in a month and a half. Either way, Harwood is letting the opportunities come to himself and his tag team partner, because, at the moment, doing what's best for his friend and both of their families is all that matters.
“These reports are going to say what they want, and that's okay. I will say, nothing has changed, and please allow everything to play out, and come April, you'll be able to understand what we're doing and where we're going,” Harwood concluded “We have a month and 18 days left to make a decision on what we're going to do. I'm not in any kind of peril as far as getting ourselves in trouble.”
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