FTR Explain Why They Weren’t Sure About Rematch With Briscoes, Say First Bout Was Their Favorite

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) captured the ROH Tag Team Championships at ROH Supercard of Honor, defeating The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoes) in a critically acclaimed match after months of promos aimed at each other.

The two teams will rematch at ROH Death Before Dishonor on July 23. 

Speaking to “Doc” Chris Mueller of Bleacher Report, FTR explained why they weren’t keen on the rematch when it was initially presented. 

“I had a talk with Tony (Khan) and he pitched the match with Briscoes. And I said, ‘Man, I don’t know if I want to go back to that.’ Because in my mind, that moment on April 1 was the perfect moment for me and Cash.” Harwood said. “I could have retired right after that. Because that match to me was so different than any structured wrestling match you see today. And I think that’s why it’s my favorite. Man, Ring of Honor needs a spark, and what better spark would there be than the rematch of Briscoes vs. FTR? And then I started thinking my anxiety is gonna kick in worrying about this. And then on top of that, I started thinking that’s what I want, I want the anxiety of trying to top that [first] match, I want the anxiety of trying to have a better FTR match than we had at Supercard of Honor. And so now, that’s my goal. To have a better match.”

Wheeler echoed the comments from his partner regarding the first bout between the two teams. 

“I would say, our first match against the Briscoes is my favorite match of our career.” Wheeler said. “It just was something that I’ll never forget from the moment we went out there. Like, we just felt the energy from the crowd. And the crowd has been the missing ingredient, I think, for making all these things work the way they have. I’m not going to try to compare it to the first match, I’m not going to try to live up to the expectations that I feel like are gonna be put on us. I just know we want to go out there and we want to have a great tag team wrestling fight. And we want it to be a big fight feel. I want to make those tag team titles need more than ever. So we take this very seriously.”

Along with holding the ROH Tag Team Championships, FTR are also the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions and AAA Tag Team Champions. 

Fans can view the current lineup for ROH Death Before Dishonor by clicking here. Plus, check out Fightful’s weekly recap of tag team wrestling, Tag Talk, on Fightful Overbooked. New episodes premiere every Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.