10 Wrestling GOATs With ONE Fatal Flaw
5. FTR
GOAT credentials:
FTR have wrestled considerably more great matches than many of the supposed best tag teams of all time - the tag teams they themselves idolise. With unreal stamina and sense of craft, they are exceptional at moving around the ring at pace to deliver complex, lung-bursting matches overflowing with high drama. The rhythm of their best work is intoxicating; masterful at building tension with next-level ring positioning and dramatic timing, the near-falls in their classic outings generate a breathless atmosphere.
Cash Wheeler is a dynamo boasting the ring IQ to save his propulsive last-ditch bursts deep into the struggle, making it feel as though the stakes are all-or-nothing, while Dax Harwood is so intense and stiff that he's mean as all hell as a heel and a vengeful badass on the hot tag. At their best, they intersect old school credibility with new school to sequencing and plotting. At their worst...
Fatal flaw:
Self-consciousness. For a team that espouses old school virtues and demonises Dave Meltzer - and, by extension, critical opinion - they sure work acclaim-bait matches. This identity crisis is hard to reconcile. The desperation to build a "legacy" often manifests with excess and a tell-don't-show crutch. In more than one match, they have missed an organic peak with an insistence on going hog wild on false finishes. Similarly, they are sometimes guilty of begging for acclaim mid-match, either by not so subtly calling for a standing ovation, overdoing the easy finisher theft trope, or running back the "holding hands when trapped in dual submissions" bit. FTR are great.
They like being great a little too much.