Dax Harwood On Darby Allin’s Promo About Wrestlers Complaining Online, Standing Up For What He Believes In

On a recent edition of the FTR podcast, Dax Harwood reflected on a recent Darby Allin promo where Allin talked about wrestlers “complaining on the internet.” Dax reflected on the idea of complaining versus standing up for yourself, his relationship with Darby, and much more. Read on for the highlights:

On what he thought about Darby Allin’s promo: “The Darby thing, when I heard it, I didn’t necessarily think he was talking about me. I have a good idea of some of the people he is talking about. Darby and I are pretty close, I would say we’re good buds. So I don’t think he was, and if he was, I would ask him, and maybe I will ask him when I see him, but I would ask him to come talk to me, and let’s clear the air and figure that out. I don’t necessarily think he was talking about me because I have respect for him, and he’s got a respect for me. We’ve worked together quite a few times, and we talk every week.”

Dax on how standing up for FTR is why they have succeeded: “But I understand what he was saying and where he was coming from. The internet/Twitter people, they can find anything on Twitter. So I’m asking them to go and find where I have actually complained. I’m just telling my truth, dude. And if I didn’t stand up for me, if I didn’t stand up for FTR, I don’t know that we would be in the position we are right now. Imagine, which I never ever complained about this, and I beg people to look for this; imagine if we would have stuck with WWE. And we would have worn the outfits that Vince gave us, the big packet of outfits he gave us. Imagine where our legacy would have led, y’know? We wouldn’t have had any matches with the Briscoes. We wouldn’t have had the match with Aussie Open. We wouldn’t had the 2022 that we’ve had, and we wouldn’t have the legacy that we have. But we stood up for ourselves, and we stood up for what we believed in.”

On standing up for yourself becoming ‘bad’: “Somewhere along the way, standing up for what you believed in, speaking your truth, became wrong. At one time, that was the measure of a character, was if you stood up for yourself. At one point in the world, that was a measure of your character. And now, it’s a measure of how… bad of a human being you are. Because we’ve gotten so complacent, we’ve gotten so used to sitting back and just taking the shit, and eating the shit. But if you believe in yourself, man, if you believe in what you have and what you can accomplish, but also what you can give back to the world, especially a world that you fucking love, dude. And I love it with a passion to the point where it has caused me a lot of grief and a lot of anxiety, but I love it so much that I have to stand up for what I believe in. Because if I didn’t stand up for what I believe in, I would have just got along to get along, y’know what I mean?”

On what he wants to know at the end of his career: “I would have gone along to get along, and I would have never done the things I wanted to do, and then I couldn’t have looked at myself in the mirror at the end of the day. At the end of the day, when we retire… imagine if I looked back and said okay, well, I shaved my back with the Usos, they poured itching powder down my ball sack, I put on these clown outfits, and who knows what else. In AEW, let’s talk about in AEW too. If I wouldn’t have stood up for what I believed in, and what I felt was right, what if I would have stayed with the Pinnacle? What if we had just been a backdrop to everything that was going on? Or what if we would have never got the rematch with the Young Bucks?”

On fighting for the opportunities FTR have had: “All this happened, dude, all this happened because of a few reasons. One, because someone believed in us and gave us the opportunity. Two, it’s because we stood up for what we believed in, and we fought for the opportunity. And they probably said in the back of their head well, ‘fuck ’em dude, let’s give them this opportunity and when they fail, we can say see, told ya, that’s why you’re gonna wear the clown outfits.’ But we didn’t! We fucking fought for it! And at some point in this world, in my lifetime, that became ‘wrong.’ It became people complaining!

If using any of the above quotations, please credit FTR with Dax Harwood h/t 411mania for the transcription.