Dax Harwood broke some news about the future of FTR on the latest episode of the FTR with Dax Harwood podcast. It sounds like FTR might be off AEW television for the remainder of their current contracts, which expire in April, because they have been granted time off:
“We’re on the tail end of our career. I’m 38 years old. I talked last week about how hard it is for me to play with my daughter, and things like that…so I think right now, this point in our career is the most important time in our career. I mean that monetarily. I mean that creatively. I mean that personally.”
“With that being said, we have asked and been granted the next few months off of television so we can sit back, reflect, decide, let our bodies heal, and figure out what we are going to do for the next few years. Because whatever we decide to do next will be the absolute last thing we do, period, as far as wrestling.”
“I don’t see myself in five years going on the independents and wrestling independents. I don’t see myself working in five years a Japan tour, or a Mexico tour, or traveling around the world and wrestling all over places. That’s why these next few months are the most important few months for us.”
“I have to take in my health, I have to take in my family, I have to take in my creativity, and I have to take in my personal life all into consideration about what we’re gonna do next. I know what I want to do, but whatever we do, I just want to be respected. We, I feel, have done something so special in 2022 and most of that is in part to the fans. I think we deserve to continue to build on our legacy for ourselves, but also we owe it to the fans to build on that legacy because they made us this past year.”
“So, that’s my news, is we are going to be away for a little while. I’m not sure exactly how long we’ll be away. It may be all the way up until the end of our contract. I don’t know yet…contract is up in April.”
“By [the beginning of] April…we will have an answer. I don’t know if you’ll see us back at all on TV before that, but that’s our plan right now.”
If FTR’s future comes down to a choice between WWE and AEW, the recent news about Vince McMahon’s return to WWE has to be a factor in the decision-making process. When Dax was vaguely asked by co-host Matt Koon about “anything in the news the last few days” affecting his mindset about the future, Harwood had the following response:
“I would be lying to you if I said no it doesn’t at all, but of course it does.”
“If I feel like we aren’t being respected the way I think we should…I mean as entities as far as characters and what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished and who we are, but also as human beings, I will not hesitate to explore other options. Whether those options are taking a year off and doing things we love, that could be it, or whether those options are being presented to me in other forms. There’s a lot of things I have to weigh, and I can’t give you a direct answer.”
One reason why he can’t give a direct answer is because any such decision about the future of FTR will have to be mutually agreed upon with his tag team partner, Cash Wheeler, just as they’ve done together for the last 10 years.
For what it’s worth, elsewhere in the podcast, Dax mentioned that Tony Khan has been “top notch” to FTR, while acknowledging some occasional creative differences. More damning, however, was his take on Vince McMahon:
“I think the people on the main roster knew there was no real money in tag team wrestling because Vince did not like it. Regardless of what someone else wants to tell you, Vince didn’t like it. He doesn’t like tag team wrestling.”
There’s still a lot of uncertainty about how Vince McMahon’s latest power play will shake out, in terms of who is running WWE creative later this year. If Vince is the guy running the show (instead of Triple H), it doesn’t sound like WWE will be a good fit for a popular tag team wrestler who considers the next few years the most important time of his career. But FTR has plenty of time to assess the pro wrestling landscape before making that decision.
What’s your reaction to Harwood’s news, Cagesiders?
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