FTR Talk Supercard of Honor, Bret Hart, Tony Khan's Vision for Tag Team Wrestling

AEW's FTR — Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler — will face The Briscoe Brothers tonight at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor, ROH's first event since the company was purchased by AEW president Tony Khan back in early March. The rivalry between the two teams goes back much further than that, starting with a few traded shots on social media before the former AEW World Tag Team Champions arrived at Final Battle back in December and stood face-to-face with Jay and Mark. But, as they confirmed in an interview with ComicBook this week, there were never actually plans for the match when that confrontation was booked. 

"So, I'll tell you that there was no plan," Wheeler confirmed. "The plan is there was no plan. It was just... I think it just started over a couple of tweets, really. There has always been the chatter, because they are who they are, we are who we are and fans appreciate good tag team wrestling. And they know that those two teams are going to give you that. So, the chatter has already been there and then it just... I think maybe Dax and Jay went back and forth on Twitter. And from there it just... The videos started happening and we didn't know if we respond for a little bit. And then we decided, 'You know what? Let's respond. Let's put them in their place.' And then Final Battle got the approval, and we're like, 'Okay, we're really cooking here.' And then everything just had to... The brakes had to be pumped, and then we didn't know if it was going to happen at all. And so, we just kind of... Back and forth. A lot of uncertainty, and then we finally got the final word maybe a day before the fans did. Honestly. We knew about a day before it was announced, and that was it.

Dax added, "I think that the word hype is completely the wrong word to use. Because there was no hype going on. There was no... The stuff that we were saying and we were doing wasn't for promotional material or to hype anything up. It was two tag teams, maybe specifically at the time, two guys who thought their tag team was the best. There was, like Cash said, a lot of chatter. A lot of dream and fantasy booking between FTR and the Briscoes. And I think they think they're the greatest. We think we're the greatest. If someone ever says something about me or Dan... Or, sorry. Excuse me. Someone says something about me or Cash, it gets me riled up a little bit. In real life and in wrestling, especially if you think you're better than us. So I had to, we had to rebuke... We decided for a while, we weren't going to say anything. We were going to let them just go on their little rants and not touch it at all. But you know what? We were getting tired of it. Let's do it. Let's put them in their place.

Check out the highlights from the interview with FTR below! And stay tuned for live coverage of Supercard of Honor tonight, available on FITE TV!  

Has your time in AEW so far met your expectations? 

Harwood: That's a loaded question... I'll say yes and no, as well. I think for me, and I know Cash too, but I'll speak specifically for me, so if there is any heat, I'll take it. I'm not satisfied with what we've done. But I'm not satisfied with what we've done in our careers, not just AEW. I'm happy with what we've accomplished so far. I'm happy that when Tony Khan needs a big number, and he needs a great wrestling match, the first guys he calls on are Cash and myself. I'm very happy, I'm very proud about that. Am I satisfied? Absolutely not. At the end of the day when we're done, which could be in a few months, could be in a few years. That's for us to discuss. But when we're done at the end of the day, then you can come back, then you can ask us if we're satisfied. Right now or not.

Wheeler: Yeah. I'm very happy with a lot of the stuff we've done, but I'm never going to be to the point where I'm content and we have way too many goals set for ourselves and too many things we want to accomplish. Do I think we're on the trajectory? Yes. But am I satisfied right now? No. So, until we accomplish everything we've set out to do, I'll never be satisfied. But I do feel like we're on the path and that path is to be the greatest tag team.

You guys often talk about what your vision for tag team wrestling is and what it should be. Does that vision match with Tony Khan's?

Wheeler: ...So, I think our vision of tag team wrestling is the same because he features tag team wrestling. But until we're the champions again, I can't say yes.

Harwood: I'm not going to say yes to it definitely being the same. I mean, we have our vision of tag team wrestling [and it] is completely different than probably anybody else's in the world. And it should be. I mean, it would be really boring if everybody's vision was exactly the same. But I think that we are still a brand new company. I think Tony is signing up the greatest talent in the world, not because he wants to lose money. He's signing the best talent in the world right now, because he wants the fans to enjoy a product that he's putting on.

That's the only reason. That's the reason we have the greatest tag teams in the world working for us right now. Because he wants the fans to enjoy professional wrestling. And that's it. And to see people, not our fans, because our fans are very smart, but to see people complain about that online blows my mind. You're complaining about this man hiring CM Punk, or Daniel Bryan, or John Moxley, or FTR, or Sting or whoever, and I'm not categorizing ourselves with them, but I'm saying you're complaining because he's giving you a freaking treat man. He's given you something you've never had before. A talent roster that you've never seen, that's completely loaded. And so I hope he continues to bring in tag teams. I hope we bring in every single tag team in the world. Because I promise you the more he brings them in, the more Cash and I will step up and show that we are the best. And I think we've proved that we are the best because we're so much different than everybody else. Man, I'm getting fired up because of that.

No you don’t. pic.twitter.com/SFBHiLXIP7

— Uncle Dax FTR (@DaxFTR) March 26, 2022

Dax, since you're fired up I'll keep it going. CM Punk claims he's the biggest Bret Hart fan in the world. Why is he wrong?

Harwood: He knows. I mean, I could take you downstairs to my bar right now, and I'll show you my shrine if I wanted to. But he knows the truth. He said that to piss me off and get under my skin, and it worked. But there's... How do I keep the magic here? Bret, to me, is more than a wrestler. And I'm sure he is to Punk, too. And I can't tell you why I'm a better, bigger Bret Hart fan than him, than just telling you that I f—ing am. Okay?

This man has made me feel a certain way. Emotionally. I've said it before, but there have been wrestlers who are more over than Bret are. Hogan, Austin, Rock. They all are bigger stars than Bret. They all were more over than Bret. But there's never been a wrestler who's over like Bret Hart. And I can watch his matches, and even though they were 25 years ago or 30 years ago, I get lost in them because he is so f—ing special, man.

And he's so special to me personally. My God, that's my hero. That's who I want to be like. As a human being, as a wrestler. That's who I want to be. So all these internet people, all these internet fans can call me a mark. That is totally okay. Because, one, my check clears every other week and it's a pretty damn big check. But two, because he has taught me something. He's taught me life lessons. He's taught me how to be a good human being and how to never give up. He's just the greatest. There's never anybody who will come close to what he's done and what he can do.