10 MORE Storylines AEW Dropped Cold

9. ReDRagon Vs. FTR

Matt Hardy
WWE

On the March 2, 2022 AEW Dynamite, FTR entered the Casino Tag Team Battle Royale, from which they were eliminated when the Young Bucks struck Dax Harwood with stereo Superkicks.

This was a rare, good distraction: ReDRagon, who had already qualified for the three-way Tag Team title match at Revolution the prior week, threatened to swipe Dax's feet from the apron. He wasn't fooled by some f*cker's entrance music or somebody acting obnoxious miles away on the ramp; he was moments from losing the match.

This was the genesis of FTR's face turn; when they vowed revenge, then-manager Tully Blanchard urged them to forget their conflict with the Undisputed Elite and pursue gold. They didn't listen. They wanted to fight with honour so that they could look their families in the eye. They gained a measure of revenge by beating the Young Bucks in April, but incredibly, a match against ReDRagon - guaranteed to be excellent - never happened. Happily, this did not dent FTR's credibility. They remain massively over.

In a worrying note, though, it feels at this point that the fandom is defying their actual booking under the insistence that they deserve to be in a better spot.

It's not quite Daniel Bryan/Becky Lynch levels of "promoter hates fans, fans in kind tell him to f*ck off", but still: as good a year as FTR have enjoyed, it could have been better even if they didn't win the AEW Tag Team titles in this slightly altered timeline.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!