Dax Harwood Explains Why FTR Re-Signed With AEW, Says He Was ‘Just A Number’ To Vince McMahon

On a recent edition of FTR with Dax Harwood, one-half of the new AEW Tag Team Champions spoke about why he and partner Cash Wheeler chose to re-sign with AEW. Read on for the highlights.

On never wanting a bidding war: “We’re sticking around AEW. There were a lot of things that I had to weigh out as far as what we were gonna do and where we were gonna go. Like I’ve said a million times, never ever did I want any kind of ‘bidding war’ between WWE and AEW. Never did I want to try to play one side against the other. It was all literally me taking everything for the last nineteen years of my career, compiling it up in my brain, and wondering what the best course of action for me is.”

On taking care of his family and cementing his legacy: “I want to make sure my legacy is cemented. I want to build on my legacy even more. Take care of my family the best way I can. And the best way to take care of my family right now is make sure that I’m spending all the time that I’m allowed to spend with them. Tony Khan and AEW provided [Cash and I] with the best schedule.”

On how AEW has provided them with so much: “Everything that we’ve earned, everything that we’ve got for these last three years, is because of AEW. Because of what we’ve done in AEW. Before AEW, we were in the WWE. There were glimmers of hope for the main roster, like becoming two-time RAW tag team champions, Smackdown tag team champions, FTRKO… but our legacy was gonna be saddled on NXT. The Alphas feud, the Enzo & Cass feud, and obviously the DIY feud. And that’s what our legacy was. We weren’t building on our legacy. I feel like our legacy had flatlined in WWE. In AEW, even though there were times, and there are gonna be times, were I feel like momentum has been missed, or we don’t necessarily agree with the direction or the idea of FTR, what they’re doing… still, man. The legacy that we have created, cemented, built on in the last three years is because of what Tony Khan can offer us.”

On the schedule and platform AEW can offer: “He can offer us a schedule, he can offer us a platform, that we felt was better for us, that I could trust a little more than what WWE could offer us. I appreciate everyone that reached out to me through other avenues, and were interested in having us back, said they made the mistake of letting us go… but for me, 2023, Cash 2023, Maria and Finley, the best course of action for us was to stick around here in AEW.”

On deciding to re-sign with AEW well before WrestleMania: “Another misconception that we got tagged in so much on social media was ‘FTR found out that Vince is back in charge and they decided to stay.’ Or ‘FTR told Tony, give us the belts or we’re going to WWE.’ Us and Ultimate Warrior, we’re holding the companies up, that’s what we do. If you think that Vince has been officially been back in charge since right before Wrestlemania… If you think we put pen to paper as soon as that happened, if you think that Tony made all the adjustments as soon as that happened, man, I don’t know if you understand how business or contracts work. If you think we went to the building Wednesday night with no contract signed, and we said, ‘we’re not gonna sign this contract unless you give us these belts,’ man, you are so short-sighted. We knew way before Vince came back in charge what was gonna happen.”

On the difference between how Khan and McMahon view wrestlers: “He cares about me, he cares about my family, he cares about the individuals that he pays on a bi-weekly basis. He cares about them as people. I felt that — this is gonna get a headline — working for Vince, I was just a number. And talked his minions underneath into thinking that everyone is just replaceable.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit FTR h/t 411mania for the transcription.