Dax Harwood discusses his podcast with Matt Koon and the stories that have came out of it.
In December 2022, the FTR With Dax Harwood podcast was launched by Ad Free Shows after the run of William Regal's podcast 'Gentleman Villain' came to end after Regal returned to WWE. The podcast has allowed Harwood to share many stories with fans, although some of those stories have been controversial among various fans in the wrestling community.
Dax Harwood recently spoke to Fightful for a new interview. In the discussion, Harwood went into detail about his appreciation for Matt Koon and how he wouldn't have been able to do the podcast with anyone else.
"I think a lot of podcast co-hosts out there today who think that their brainwave is on the same as a professional wrestler. So they don’t step back and say, ‘I’m a fan.’ They step back and say, ‘Oh, I’m in the wrestling business,’ and I don’t think that’s the way to go about it unless you’ve actually been in the wrestling business. So with Matt Koon, he’s a fan first and he’ll tell you he’s a fan first. So he doesn’t try to rationalize or combat some of the things that I feel or how I feel as a wrestler. So with him giving me this opportunity, that’s why I jumped on it. Because I knew he wasn’t going to undermine me as a wrestler or any other wrestlers or even the fans. I knew he was going to be on the same page as the wrestling fans. I also knew that I am a current wrestler and even though Cash and I have been teaming since 2014, that’s still pretty damn current, you know what I mean? That’s still in this era I knew that if I were going to talk about the things that would appeal to the audience from my perspective, I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers, but I go into no podcast with the intention to ruffle feathers. I go into the podcast just to tell the truth. Every interview, whether it’s with you or whether it’s Matt Koon on my podcast or whatever, I just want to tell the truth. Because that’s all I have. That’s what my work is, to tell the truth. Like you said, there’s a shit ton of podcasts, man, around the world right now. Especially in professional wrestling.So to make mine a little different, I told Matt that I wanted to have, obviously, wrestling in the forefront, but I also wanted to talk about anxiety. I wanted to talk about stress. I want to talk about struggles as a human being, a father, a husband, how I’m on the road and how I deal with them. So I wanted to intertwine those and not just talk about the wrestling aspect because that’s what every other podcast does. Now I’m here, we’re doing well. I’m surprised we’re doing so well and very happy that we’re doing so well. I think he’s a great person to have on anybody’s team, with Conrad, too. Like you said, he doesn’t get rattled. I think if he did get rattled or did get upset, you might wanna watch out because you
don’t see it very often with him. He makes it so easy and he does his homework. I’ve said it before, he could do a podcast with any other wrestler. I couldn’t do a podcast with any other co-host. So I owe him a lot."
Harwood also discussed the podcast's upcoming live event in Los Angeles that is set to take place from the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on Thursday, March 30.
"This live event we have in Los Angeles is all because of him. This is his idea, his brain child. At first I didn’t really necessarily want to do it because, I’ve said it a million times to the point where I’m sure people want to throw up, but I am a family man. I love staying home with my family. So flying across the country to L.A. wasn’t super appealing to me. Right. Surrounded by all the other stuff going on right now in L.A. that weekend. So, yeah, it was very nerve wracking going into it. But he talked me into it. He said it would be fun, we could do it the way I wanted to do it. I told him, and I told the people we had a business meeting with, I said that the way I want to do it, I want it to be like a whole bunch of friends at a bar. I want us to have fun. I want us to talk and interact. I don’t want it to be a deal where I’m sitting behind a table and there’s a line of people who come up and say hello. I wanted the live event to have my friends with me because I didn’t want to just have somebody with me or have any name. I wanted guys that I could have fun with and I could enjoy it. That’s why I brought in Hobbs and Cash, Wardlow, Shawn Spears and we’ve got a few other surprises, too, that I think everyone’s going to enjoy. But I wanted my friends to be there because the more comfortable I am, the more comfortable the fans are, and the more fun we can all have. That’s so corny for me to say, but it’s the truth, dude. I invite you, if you’re going to be there. Please come and hang out with us, dude. So first of all, real quick before we move on, the VIP thing is gonna be unlike any other VIP thing you’ve ever been involved with as a fan. Because, dude, like I said, I told them that I wanted to the VIP to be a personable thing. I wanted everyone to be able to come up to me and come up to my guests and talk to us and let’s have fun. If they drink, let’s all have a drink together and just be friends for that hour."
Harwood then went on to discuss the headlines that have come out of stories he's told on the podcast. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion noted that he knew some of the stories or his opinions were going to ruffle some feathers.
"There’ve been a shit ton of stories. I think there have been more stories since my podcast about me than my whole 19 year career as a professional wrestler, dude. Like I said, I knew it was going to ruffle the feathers. Especially coming out of the gate with the CM Punk podcast. The reason I wanted to do the CM Punk episode was because I feel like there were journalists who were painting him in a certain picture or painting him in a certain light. Because if you look at CM Punk’s career, he has always gone against the grain and stood up for himself and stands up for what he believes in. I’ve said it before; I didn’t think that we’d be friends at all. I thought we were going to hate each other. The story I’ve told, Cash and I when we were going to meet Punk for the first time in AEW, I told Cash, ‘If he comes to me and tells me that I’m not dressed the part, like I’m wear a suit to TV, we’re gonna have a problem.’ I thought we were just gonna clash because, honestly, we’re so much alike. But, dude, we became the best of friends. He’s a very passionate human being. I wanted that first episode to be about him because I wanted everyone to know what my truth was and I wanted everyone to know that shit happens and it happened. I hated it that he was getting the reputation that he was getting, but I wanted them to know that we needed CM Punk and we needed the Young Bucks and we needed Kenny Omega. We need them in AEW. We need them to survive because right now we’re the second largest wrestling company in the world and with those entities working together, dude, throw my dumb ass and Cash in there, and it’s a recipe for something that could be really, really, really good. So I just wanted to let everybody know that shit happens, fights happens and not one person is at fault. Everyone is. That’s how it should be. Everyone should be on the exact same slate. So, yes, I got heat for that. I’ve had some co-workers go to the dirt sheets and tell the dirt sheets what they think and they weren’t very happy with me. But that’s okay because the people that reached out to me, that have reached out to me and continue to reach out to me from AEW and from WWE tell me how much they enjoy the work of the podcast, how much they enjoy hearing my passion, how much they enjoy hearing me break down the psychology going into a match or something. There are a few loud people and they’re loud undercover. But the people who love it, there are way more people like that than there are people who don’t love it."
Harwood then went on to elaborate about having problems with people backstage and how he likes to settle things face to face.
"Absolutely. Dude, it’s happened numerous times. People that have had an issue with me or I had an issue with them. Face to face,, that’s how I’ve always settled things. I’m 38 years old, dude. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I really do. I’m so passionate and I can’t hide how I feel. Whether I love you or I don’t agree with you, I just can’t hide how I feel. If feel like Cash and I are being underutilized or just being shit on, I got to let you know. I got to let you know. So, for better or worse, that’s my M.O. that if I have a problem with you or you have a problem with me, I’m gonna come to your face and we’re gonna figure this thing out. If it has to be a fight, it has to be a fight. But if we can talk through it, I’d much rather that happen. So I don’t know the whole dynamic between the Punk and Colt thing. I don’t really care to know everything about it because that has no bearing on how I feel about Colt or how I feel about Punk. I’ve told my issues with Colt and that was way before Punk got there. But I’m in the business for the business. That’s it. If I can make friends along the way, man, that’s fucking cool. If I don’t? That’s okay, too. Because I’m in the business for the business and right now the biggest business I want to do is I want there to be, and there should be, a story between, at the very least, myself and Cash and Young Bucks. There should be a real story. There’s a rubber match gotta come soon. If personal issues can be put to the side, it’s gonna make a lot of money and that’s all I want to do. I want to make money and I want do good for wrestling."
Fans can check out weekly episodes of FTR With Dax Harwood on any podcast platform of your choosing.
As previously noted, Harwood will be holding a live show on Thursday, March 30 in Los Angeles, California. Fans can find tickets for the event by clicking here.
Fans can also find Fightful's full interview with Dax Harwood linked above.
