FTR have talked about taking a year off of TV wrestling when their contracts are up, according to Dax Harwood.
Harwood and Cash Wheeler were longtime friends before they arrived in WWE, and they started teaming up in NXT in 2014. The duo originally competed as The Mechanics, but they were later renamed The Revival. They went on to capture the tag team titles on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT before they asked for and eventually obtained their release in 2020.
Harwood and Wheeler then signed with AEW in 2020, and they won the AEW World Tag Team Championship a All Out 2020. FTR then won the AAA World Tag Team Championship in October 2021 and the ROH World Tag Team Championship at ROH Supercard of Honor 2022. FTR later added the IWGP Tag Team Championship to their collection at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 26, 2022. In addition to defending the gold and competing on AEW TV, they also occasionally wrestle on the independent scene.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp at WrestleCade, Harwood was asked to share his thoughts on the numerous options in the wrestling landscape. He responded by emphasizing that he has loyalty to both WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H and AEW President Tony Khan for what they have done for him. But he also made it clear that there's a lot of stuff he wants to do. Harwood then noted that he thinks FTR's contracts come up at the end of April 2023, and he stated that FTR have discussed taking a year off of TV wrestling.
“It’s very intriguing, very exciting. Here’s the thing. Hunter took a chance on us in 2015, and he put the tag belts on a relatively unknown, relatively unproven tag team, and he let us run with it. Then he gave us American Alpha, and he can use Enzo and Cass, and he gave us DIY, and he gave us that platform. Then we went to the main roster and things happened, and when we were ready to go, Tony Khan picked us up. So I have loyalty to both of these guys for what they have done for me and done for my family. But also, I’m never satisfied in wrestling. There’s a lot of stuff I wanna keep doing, and I’ve got a short amount of time to do it. So Cash and I have talked. Our deals come up at the end of April. I’d have to check with my lawyer, Mike Dawkins, but I think that’s right, the end of April. We’ve even thought about, what if we just take a year off of TV wrestling, you know what I mean?" Harwood said.
When Johnny Gargano's time away from the ring following his WWE departure came up, Harwood noted that FTR's vision would follow a different approach. He described how the duo would potentially focus on doing things that excite them, and he brought up their match with The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) as an example. He noted that being able to compete for NJPW and AAA excites him, and he also enjoyed facing Mike Bailey at the WrestleCade SuperShow on November 26. Harwood also clarified that if FTR took a year off of TV wrestling, fans would still see them, but they might not be working in the mainstream during that period.
"Yeah, and we may take a different approach than Johnny because Johnny, I think he’s a little younger than I am, I would imagine so. We’ve talked about it, and our approach would be, take a year off of TV wrestling, maybe, and do things that excite us. We’ve been able to do that quite a bit this year, like starting with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express match, and we had a fucking knockdown, drag-out match that I’m so proud of because, in my opinion, you can ask Ricky and I think he’d tell you the same thing, it was their best match they’ve had since 1990 with the Midnight Express. We’ve been able to do things like New Japan and AAA and tonight with Mike Bailey. Those are things that excite me because I love wrestling so much. So if we do take a year off of TV wrestling, I don’t think you’ll not see us. You might not see us mainstream, but it would be so Cash and I could one, rest our bodies because we haven’t been able to do that in sight years, but two, we could do things that make us happy and bring joy to us, and then we’ll go from there, I guess," Harwood said.
In the same interview, Harwood said that all Bryan Danielson does is talk about penis sizes in the locker room. Check out his comments here.
FTR recently teamed up with Ricky Steamboat in his return to the ring. More information is available here.
In an interview, Anthony Bowens stated that The Acclaimed will have to cross paths with FTR at some point. Click here to see what he had to say.
