AEW superstar Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, better known as FTR, recently spoke with DAZN to hype tomorrow’s Full Gear pay per view, where the duo will be challenging the Lucha Bros for the AEW tag team championship. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
FTR calls the last year of their lives a roller coaster and a reset:
HARWOOD: “I would say a roller coaster just like life. Life is a roller coaster. I think this last year has been a roller coaster too. I think after losing the match to The Young Bucks at Full Gear and losing the AEW Tag Team championships, we tried to find our footing again. We got intertwined into the Inner Circle and Pinnacle feud. But I think, and I think Cash will agree with me over the last three months, we’ve hit our stride, and I think we’re on the biggest roll we’ve ever been on.”
WHEELER: “Yeah, I think it was a reevaluation year for us. It was a reset. We lost at Full Gear last year. That was a pretty low point for us. We put a lot of pride into what we do. We put a lot of pride into being the champions, especially the AEW Tag Team champions, so that hurt. I think we had to take a step back, and we had to just find ourselves and what worked for us from the beginning and kind of reset. We went back to the basics for us, and we just had that chip back on our shoulders. We work best when we’re angry. We’re best when we’re annoyed. I think we’ve just went out there, and we’ve gotten back to what made FTR, FTR, and it’s been a lot of fun. I think people know that. They’re there along with it.”
Talk the momentum shifting for AEW when they returned to touring with live crowds:
WHEELER: “I think a lot of the talent if you asked them, will tell you they started feeling that during the pandemic because we had to run so many shows in Daily’s Place, and that’s challenging. You have to be creative, be different, switch things up, and keep things intriguing for the fans to keep them coming back because it’s so different without having a full arena full of people screaming. We did a great job of having the most we could with the guidelines in place. But I think it made the company better, and it gave the company time to grow into itself, find its identity, and what works. Once we got back to the live crowds, you can really see that take place because all the seeds were planted during the pandemic. You can tell the momentum was swelling. You can see the backstage atmosphere just had this positivity about it. So when we’re back on the road, we’re bursting at the seams to get out on the road. No offense to Jacksonville. They were beautiful. But there’s just nothing like being on the road every week in front of a new crowd doing something new. I think that’s when it really kind of spilled over is when we got back on the road. We have full arenas with crazy debuts and crazy match after crazy match. It’s been great.”
HARWOOD: “But also, I don’t think I’m not kissing up to him. I don’t think he’ll watch this, so I don’t give a damn. But Tony does not get the credit he deserves right now for being, and it’s overused but creative genius. He loves professional wrestling. The best thing about this company is that he’s not afraid of that word. I think in a few years, people are going to look back and say, ‘Man, he really is smart’. He really knows what he’s doing, and he’s got a knack for telling stories and putting matches together and the why’s and how’s. He’s really great.”
