Dax Harwood On WWE/FTR Rumours: "Do They Want Us Or Do They Want AEW Not To Have Us?"
FTR man outlines money vs. wrestling argument when addressing WWE reports.
For the second time in under a week, All Elite Wrestling star Dax Harwood has commented on WWE's reported interest in bringing him and FTR partner Cash Wheeler back to the company when their AEW contracts expire.
Speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Harwood reaffirmed that he and Wheeler left WWE due to the promotion's lack of focus on tag team wrestling, saying that they had to depart in order to achieve their goals (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
“I think we know about as much as everyone else does, but we left that place because they didn’t put a focus on tag team wrestling, and we knew there was a ceiling to where we could go in the company. We wanted to do more. We wanted to be known as the greatest tag team of all time, we had to leave there to do that, and we knew that so that’s why we were so insistent on them giving us our releases.”
Continuing, Dax called the WWE rumours "flattering", but revealed that under no circumstances would he discuss a WWE contract while bound to Tony Khan's promotion:-
“I sent him (Cash) a screenshot of all the different news outlets or whatever saying they want to re-sign us. That’s flattering and it’s cool. You know, we’ve got some more time. But I told Tony (Khan), you know, because obviously he heard about it, that there’s no way that we would ever talk contracts with anybody while we were working for him. We have way too much respect for him and our word means something.”
Cody Rhodes' recent jump from AEW back to WWE then came up. Although Harwood wishes him well, he raised the question of whether or not FTR would be able to concentrate on honing their tag team craft in an environment that hasn't always supported its duos divisions well.
Because for FTR, there's more to it than money:-
“Then I start thinking like, Okay, do they want us or do they want AEW to not have us? You know, it’s cool for Cody to do what he’s done. But you know, there’s just so many unknowns there. Will we ever focus on tag team wrestling like we’ve been able to the last two years? Money is not everything for us. I do have a family, so I have to take care of them. But it’s not all about the money. It’s about what we leave behind for wrestling, too.”
Wheeler and Harwood are contractually bound to AEW for at least another year. Having signed there in May 2020, the duo currently reign as AAA and ROH World Tag Team Champions.