FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) aren’t worried about getting pulled from AEW Fight Forever because they got their answer about the move a while ago.
On August 28, Fightful reported that the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions were taken out of AEW’s upcoming console game, and the reasoning for the move was unclear.
In an interview with Louis Dangoor of GiveMeSport WWE, the duo were asked to share their side of the story. Wheeler explained that they were initially blindsided because they wondered whether there was something they needed to worry about. But he made it clear that they got an answer, and it made a lot of sense, so it’s not an issue.
“For us, the only only real issue was we were kinda blindsided by it,” said Wheeler. “We found out like, not how you would expect. When you find out something like, like something major like you’re being taken out of a video game, your mind automatically assumes the worst. So for us, it was like, is something we need to worry about? Should we read between the lines here? Were we not told for a reason? Now that we are aware, now that we are out, what is that reason? Is it something we should worry about? We got an answer. It made a lot of sense, very logical answer. We said oh, okay, cool. As long as we don’t have to worry about it, non-issue. That’s what it was. We’ve known it since May, June.
“I don’t know how long at this point. But for months. If that would have came out yesterday, I have no idea why. We were at a show in North Carolina. We did, I woke up, got coffee, seminar, meet and greet, show, flight from Charlotte. So I had my phone on me maybe two, three times yesterday, at most. Had no idea what was going on until I got back to Charlotte and I’m dropping my rental car off, and I just see that s— hit the fan basically. I was like oh, wonder what happened here? Why did this finally get out? But don’t know exactly what happened yesterday, I don’t know why it just now became a headline, but we’ve known about it for a while. We got answers for it a while ago. For us, it’s not even an issue or thought about, so yesterday was just the weirdest day for that for us.”
Likewise, Harwood emphasized that they’ve known about their removal for a while, and they aren’t upset about it. He noted that they talked to Tony Khan and AEW’s legal department about it, and it’s not an issue. He stated that he’s focused on leaving a legacy, having fun, and taking care of his family.
“Yeah, so the headline from you, Louis, could be, and I don’t know if it will get as many clicks as a bad headline, but ‘FTR is not upset about being removed. FTR does not blame anyone for pulling us out of the game,'” Harwood said. “Like Cash said, we heard about this, I wanna say maybe March. It was before the Briscoes match. We heard about it a long time. I had someone message me, one of the journalists, message me and say is this true? I thought, I didn’t respond to him. The first thing I did was text Cash, obviously, and say, ‘Have you heard anything about this?’ ‘No, let’s text Tony and find our.’ We text Tony, we went through the right chain of command. We text Tony, talk to him. Legal texted us and we talked with them for a bit.
“We got our answer, and it was a non-issue. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t doing something wrong, and if there was something we could do to correct that, let us know. We got that. Then months later, last night, this article comes up, and I couldn’t believe it didn’t come out in March or whenever it was. It came out last night, and it just blindsided both of us. So no, I don’t care to be in the video game. My worry is leaving a legacy, having fun with my best friend, and on top of all that, taking care of Maria and Finlay. That’s all.”
Since the news about the duo’s removal started making the rounds, many fans have been voicing their opinion about the news, and this reaction has led to some fighting between those with dissenting opinions. When asked whether the fans’ support was a silver lining, Wheeler stated that it’s been nice to see that their fans care about them, but he hates the toxic environment caused by the conflict.
“Yes and no, like it’s awesome to know that people care about it that much. But to see the side that does and the side that doesn’t go like back and forth and having all of this unnecessary blame and talking really really poorly about one side or really, really poorly about the other side, when really it should just be a non-issue,” Wheeler said. “I love that they’re upset about it as far as that that care about us, but I really hate the toxic environment that it creates between people fighting over it because it really isn’t an issue and it hasn’t been. The only thing that worried us is if there was a very bad as to why we were being taken out. When you get an explanation that makes a ton of sense, you don’t worry about it anymore because you got the answer and it’s not one you have to sweat. it’s cool they care about us, but I hate that it has to come at the expense of people fighting too.”
Harwood similarly expressed his appreciation for the support by noting that feeling loved by the fans has meant a lot to him.
“For so long in my life, before my wife, I didn’t feel loved all the time, as corny as that sounds,” Harwood said. “I don’t think I knew exactly what the feeling of real love was because I’d never felt it. I had a best friend, and I have a great mom and dad, but my dad was a hardass and he’s apologized since I’ve had my daughter, but he was a hardass and he never really showed me that kind of love and affection. My mom was working all the time too, so we never really got to connect. We were together, so we never got to connect.
“I don’t think for so long that I knew what real love. Then when we turned babyface, I found out, I got real love from the fans, and that was the coolest thing to me, so I’m embracing that babyface turn. I don’t care if that’s corny or whatever. To log on and see so many people upset because we’ve been pulled out, I can’t lie, it made me feel good. I’m like okay, that’s love, man”
Wheeler aimed to put the matter to rest by thanking everyone for their support and asking them to stop fighting.
“Thank you for caring about us, but please don’t be upset for us,” said Wheeler. “It’s not an issue, and there’ll be a chance to use us anyway. Thank you, but please stop fighting.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please link to the original source and credit WrestleZone for the transcription.
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