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Two former champions from WWE recently revealed that they had decided to leave the Stamford-based promotion even before AEW came into existence.
In a conversation with Jeff Snyder, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, the tag team known as FTR, talked about their willingness to leave WWE prior to the creation of AEW. Wheeler mentioned that the duo, who were known as The Revival back then, were open to potentially joining promotions like ROH and NJPW since they believed they were capable of finding success elsewhere.
“So, before AEW started, we had made up our mind that we wanted to go out and try to prove our worth on our own.... So we didn’t know what that was going to look like at the time. Whether it was going to be Ring of Honor, because this was probably 2018, 2019. Whether it’s Ring of Honor, whether it was New Japan, whatever it was going to be, we weren’t exactly sure. We just had faith that we could go out there and do it," said Cash Wheeler.
Wheeler further praised the development and success of AEW and its role in rejuvenating the overall health of the industry. Elsewhere in the interview, Harwood talked about asking Triple H for their release in 2019 and cited the emphasis Tony Khan's company laid on tag team wrestling as one of the reasons they became All Elite:
“We asked for our release with Hunter before AEW was even a thing... I think it was January 2019 that we asked for our release initially, and we were told we would get it, and then we were told wouldn’t get it, and then we didn’t get it for a year and a half. But when AEW became a thing, obviously, we were super excited and super happy and wanted to join them because they had focused on tag team wrestling. They put a focus on tag team wrestling, and we had watched the ascension of the Young Bucks, and we knew that there was a market for the FTR vs. Young Bucks matches. So yeah, I’m really, really glad that AEW became a thing. I’m glad we battled ourselves and came here to this place,” said Dax Harwood. [h/t WrestleZone]
The Top Guys are currently involved in an intense rivalry with the House of Black, who beat the trio of FTR and Daniel Garcia on a recent episode of Collision.
Shocking interference costs Chris Jericho and AEW star a major title match at Battle of the Belts
An unexpected intervention caused Chris Jericho and a top star to lose a title match at the ninth edition of Battle of the Belts.
At the event, The Ocho teamed with Sammy Guevara to challenge AEW World Tag Team Champions Big Bill and Ricky Starks in a Street Fight for their titles. The match was a violent affair, and the champions managed to retain their titles due to interference from a former stablemate of Starks.
The end of the match saw The Spanish God attempt to flatten Starks with a senton from the top of a tall structure on the set. But the latter was pulled out of harm's way by Powerhouse Hobbs, leaving Guevara to miss his mark. This allowed Starks to cover the former TNT Champion to retain their championships.
Hobbs has revealed since then that his actions did not stem from any loyalty towards his former Team Taz partner and stated that he was sending a message from Don Callis. The rivalry between Jericho and The Invisible Hand is clearly far from over.
What's next in the war between Le Sex Gods and the Don Callis family? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
