FTR: Tony Khan Doesn’t Get The Credit He Deserves For Being A Creative Genius

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) have been at the forefront of tag team wrestling for years and have brought an old school flavor to tag team wrestling in AEW. 

FTR will challenge for the AEW Tag Team Championships at Full Gear when they battle The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix), marking their first shot at the AEW Tag Team Titles since losing them to the Young Bucks at Full Gear 2020. 

Speaking to Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN, FTR discussed their journey in getting back to the belts. 

“I think this last year has been a roller coaster too. I think after losing the match to The Young Bucks at Full Gear and losing the AEW Tag Team championships, we tried to find our footing again. We got intertwined into the Inner Circle and Pinnacle feud. But I think, and I think Cash will agree with me over the last three months, we’ve hit our stride, and I think we’re on the biggest roll we’ve ever been on,” said Dax. 

Cash added, “Yeah, I think it was a reevaluation year for us. It was a reset. We lost at Full Gear last year. That was a pretty low point for us. We put a lot of pride into what we do. We put a lot of pride into being the champions, especially the AEW Tag Team champions, so that hurt. I think we had to take a step back, and we had to just find ourselves and what worked for us from the beginning and kind of reset. We went back to the basics for us, and we just had that chip back on our shoulders. We work best when we’re angry. We’re best when we’re annoyed. I think we’ve just went out there, and we’ve gotten back to what made FTR, FTR, and it’s been a lot of fun. I think people know that. They’re there along with it.”

Though FTR enter Full Gear as the challengers, they are the AAA Tag Team Champions after defeating Lucha Bros on the October 16 episode of AEW Dynamite. 

Over the past couple of months, FTR has faced the likes of Aero Star & Samuray del Sol,  Lee Moriarty & LSG, Darby Allin & Sting, and more. They credit Tony Khan for delivering on matches fans want to see. 

“But also, I don’t think I’m not kissing up to him. I don’t think he’ll watch this, so I don’t give a damn. But Tony does not get the credit he deserves right now for being, and it’s overused but creative genius. He loves professional wrestling. The best thing about this company is that he’s not afraid of that word. I think in a few years, people are going to look back and say, ‘Man, he really is smart’. He really knows what he’s doing, and he’s got a knack for telling stories and putting matches together and the why’s and how’s. He’s really great,” said Dax. 

After saying that Tony doesn’t get credit from those on the outside, Dax continued by saying, “Right now, he’s a man worth eight or $9 billion, and the people are just regurgitating what they hear online from some of their favorite podcasters that he’s a quote-unquote money mark. Furthest from the truth. But he’s got to have money. Vince was a money mark if you think about it. He had to buy a company from his dad, and he had the money. It’s asinine even to think that. He’s a huge wrestling fan who was blessed to have the money that he has, and he’s trying to put on the best wrestling product in the world, I think. Obviously, I’m biased that he is putting on the best wrestling product we’ve had in a long time.”

Cash concluded by saying, “I agree. I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves, but I think he will. The world just seems like it can be so cynical sometimes, and we talk about it all the time is like an echo chamber. It can be a cynical echo chamber and not all the time sometimes. Some amazing things come from social media, but sometimes it can be a sounding board of negativity. I think right now; people are combating. Some people love it. Some people hate it, and they just want to clash. They want to attach to something so that a large majority of people that are vocal about it, I think, don’t even know the full details. They don’t look into it. Like you (looking at Harwood) said, they regurgitate information, or they just move the goalposts. They keep saying he can’t do something, and he does. Then it’s like, ‘Well, it’s only because but he can’t do this’. It’s gonna keep happening, and he’s gonna, as far as I am concerned, he’s gonna keep delivering, and the company is gonna be around for a long time succeeding. Then finally the respect will come.”

Ethan Page echoed the thoughts of FTR in believing Tony Khan is a genius. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Full Gear beginning at 7 p.m. ET with the Buy-In show. You can view the current lineup for the event by clicking here.