FTR: Without Matt Bloom, NXT Wouldn’t Be As Successful As It Is Now

Things may not have ended great for FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) in WWE as the duo spent a year waiting for their release.

But they still look back on their time in NXT, specifically their time with Dusty Rhodes, with fondness. 

“Before Cash joined NXT, Dusty and myself had a relationship. I don’t know if it was the southern roots we had or I was a huge fan of the Crockett era, but he and I had a relationship. When Cash did join, immediately, he wanted to put us together because he saw something. He knew that us being 5’10” and not being body guys and us not having the dialect that the boss up top cared about, he knew we had to fight an uphill battle. He believed in our talent, skill, and verbal ability. He always pushed for us. I can’t describe how much of an influence and a support system, before Matt Bloom took over, to making sure me and Cash were a team and featured,” said Harwood on the Battleground podcast.

Wheeler added, “We’ve never been the best at politicking or kissing ass. If we don’t like you or you treat us like we’re less than, we’re not going to be too friendly back. That was the case with some of the coaches early on in NXT. We’ve headstrong and stubborn sometimes. We’re men and we’re not going to be spoken to as anything less than that. There were times where it was a battle because we just couldn’t put on a smile and go along if we didn’t believe in it. Dusty respected that more than anything. When Bloom came along, he always said, ‘I’m a huge fan of sweat equity.’ He saw how hard we worked and gave us more opportunities. Because Dusty had our back through the hard times, it made our careers more successful than it would have been otherwise.”

While the duo was fond of Dusty, they were also fond of Matt Bloom, who became the head trainer of NXT in March 2015. 

Dax said about Bloom, “Without Matt Bloom, that company or brand would not be as successful as it is right now. I’ve never had a coach or a boss or anyone in any kind of power be as good of a leader as he is. He brought everyone together. I don’t know how things are now, but without him, that place would have never materialized into what it has.”

Bloom remains the head trainer of NXT, helping run the Performance Center alongside Triple H. 

Fightful recently spoke with Cash and Dax in an exclusive interview, which you can listen to by clicking here.

If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.