Dax Harwood Explains Why FTR Left WWE

FTR is on the run of a lifetime, with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler currently holding the ROH, IWGP and AAA tag team titles while also making it clear that they'll re-capture the AEW Tag Team Titles in due time. But all of these accomplishments would have never happened if the duo hadn't been granted their release from WWE in April 2020. Harwood looked back on that fateful interaction with then-WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and then-head of talent relations John Laurinaitis.

"We knew that we could do more," Harwood said on the "Mack Mania" podcast. "And as we were walking out the door to the time they tried to get us to sign a new contract, the head of talent relations at the time came to the door after we told him and Vince no thank you, he came to the door, shut the door, and said, 'What if I can get you to one million a year?' And at that point, money is money. My grandmother told me, because I was talking about it, she said, 'How much money do you need?' And that's it. That's it. I want to be happy with what I do. I mean, I love money and I'm able to give my daughter and my wife a life that I never had — Cash never had, as well — but on top of that, I've got to be happy."

In other interviews, both men expressed how important it was for them to depart from WWE so they could one day capture New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Tag Team Titles, a feat they accomplished at the AEW and NJPW crossover show, Forbidden Door, on June 26, 2022.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Mack Mania" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.