Dax Harwood Recalls Day FTR Knew It Was Time To Leave WWE

Dax Harwood makes no secret of the fact that he's passionate about tag team wrestling. In a recent interview with Fightful, Harwood said that passion is partly what drove him and his long-time tag team partner Cash Wheeler to request their release from WWE in 2020.

Harwood recalled the day he and Wheeler, then known as The Revival, asked to exit the company. Tracking down Triple H at a television taping after a match, he explained that the situation essentially came down to a difference of opinions with how WWE — and specifically Vince McMahon — saw tag team wrestling. "This is going to sound very egotistical and I don't mean for it to, but we knew that we could do better than what we were doing, and we knew that tag team wrestling could be presented better than it was being presented," he said.

FTR reportedly made several requests to be let go near the end of their WWE tenure, even turning down a long-term offer with a significant payday. However, despite asking out of their deals, Harwood said he feels no lingering ill will toward McMahon or WWE for how things ended. "I can't be mad at Vince," he said. "If he doesn't like tag team wrestling, that's okay. Because one, that's his company. But two, that's okay; it's his opinion to not like it."

Harwood later added that FTR's current AEW contracts expire at the end of April 2023. He said he and Wheeler are considering multiple options for the future, even potentially taking a year off of wrestling on television to work more independents and international promotions, plus to "do things that are fun to them."