Ranking Every AEW Surprise Debut From Worst To Best

4. FTR

Jon Moxley
AEW

It wasn't necessarily a shock that the former Revival ended up in AEW, but when and how they debuted was quite the surprise.

That shocker took place on the 27 May 2020 Dynamite offering, with the newly-dubbed Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler coming to the rescue of the Young Bucks following a Butcher and Blade beatdown. Harwood and Wheeler - collectively now known as FTR - would arrive in AEW as babyfaces, although that Dynamite debut left fans with plenty of questions pertaining to FTR and Matt and Nick Jackson.

Seeing FTR turn up on the scene in a pick-up truck and swiftly head to the ring with an all-business, sh*t-kicking demeanour was brilliant. And best of all, it was at that precise moment that fans finally knew that they'd at some point be getting to see the Bucks and FTR square off.

Stirring the pot amongst the Elite, FTR would soon turn heel by turning on the iconic Rock 'n' Roll Express babyface tandem, and they'd follow that up by dethroning Kenny Omega and 'Hangman' Adam Page to become AEW Tag Team Champions.

For the first two months of their AEW tenure, Harwood and Wheeler were actually performing without formal contracts. That was quickly rectified, with the pair signing multi-year deals in July '20, and that means that AEW has one of - if not the - greatest tag team on the planet tied down to All Elite for the foreseeable future.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.