FTR Turn Heel On & DESTROY Cope At Dynasty 2025 (AEW News)
Rated-FTR IMPLODE as Dax & Cash return to the dark side at AEW Dynasty
Rated-FTR are no more, and Cope's neck might be done and dusted again too.
Those were the takeaways from a brutal heel turn by Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler on now-former stablemate Adam Copeland following their Trios Championship loss to The Deathriders at AEW Dynasty 2025.
In the aftermath of the defeat, it appeared as though Dax was going to drill Cope with a Conchairto after sneak attacking him with a vicious piledriver. Cash intervened to stop the move and lift the 'Rated-R Superstar' to his feet, only to set him up for a Shatter Machine with Dax to make it explicitly clear which side he was on. The pair hit a spike piledriver on Cope on a chair before Wheeler unleashed a conchairto, and even proceeded to mock the injuries they were causing by mockingly putting himself on the medics' stretcher before the duo stormed off.
Their union was already seemingly on thin ice after Harwood in particular shared his frustrations over Cope's repeated AEW Championship losses to Jon Moxley derailing his own quest for FTR to regain the Tag Team Championships. The problems appeared to be dividing the partners themselves, with Cash telling Dax on the go-home Dynamite that they'd have to have some words about their future regardless of the result at the pay-per-view. Based on what transpired, they will presumably be shared over toasted tequilas for a job well done.
The turn continues what has been a well-received follow-on for all three following the universally-derided Cope/Jon Moxley story that occupied main events for the first few months of the year. Speculation is now mounting that all of this will build to Cope reuniting with longstanding partner Christian Cage for a doubles battle with FTR at one of AEW's major pay-per-views later this year. The two feuded extensively following Copeland's arrival in AEW, and Cage's recent failed attempt at using his title shot to dethrone Moxley in the Revolution 2025 main event kept them bonded on-screen, if still as rivals.
In the meantime, FTR are heels again for the first time since 2022. They worked the bulk of 2020 and 2021 as villains, but were babyfaced mostly by exceptional in-ring form, an iconic trilogy with The Briscoes and their CMFTR stable with CM Punk.