The duo also chat about the conversations surrounding CM Punk’s name.
At AEW Fight For The Fallen last summer, FTR’s Cash Wheeler had an incident where his forearm got caught on a hook near the ring rope. He suffered nerve damage as a result.
Present day, FTR are holding the IWGP, ROH and AAA World Tag Team Championships but following the incident last summer, Wheeler expressed to Dax Harwood that he wanted to quit pro wrestling. Harwood recounted the conversation they had while being interviewed for ‘The Walkway to Fight Club’ podcast.
It was an emotional conversation between the two and Wheeler said that they have separate contracts so Harwood could continue on as a singles wrestler. He felt that he was just wrestling for the money instead of doing it because he loves it. After going over the decision, Wheeler came to the conclusion that if he was going to continue, he wanted it to be fun.
Harwood: Personally, man, last year, as we’ve spoke about in great detail was very, very dark for both of us. Cash tore his arm open and I watched him almost bleed out and then at the same time, I was going through this dark period of anxiety and I had no idea how to handle it and so, we had to do a lot of soul searching within each other, but also with each other and to the point where — I don’t think he minds if I tell you but to the point where he wanted to quit last year. He called me after the arm thing and he was in tears man. He’ll still kick everybody’s ass so don’t mistake that. He called me in tears and he was like, ‘Hey, I just want you to know that I think that I’m ready to retire. I think I wanna quit, I’m not having fun’ and we both started crying and he was like, ‘I’ve wanted to do this just for fun. I’ve wanted to do this for enjoyment and not for money and now I feel like I’m just doing it for money and I feel like I care more about it than it cares about me’ and he said, ‘We both have separate contracts and you can keep going. I don’t wanna hinder you or your family but I think I’m gonna quit’ and so we had this long conversation and we talked about it and then he helped me get out of my anxiety period too and anxiety breeds a lot of hardships, you know? And so, I was taking my anxiety out on wrestling because I’d never take it out on my wife and daughter but like, I was bringing my anxiety to work and then work was causing stress and then he told me, he said, ‘Look, if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna have fun doing it. We’re not gonna let it mentally kill us and physically kill us. But if we’re gonna do it, let’s have fun and if we’re not having fun, we’re not gonna do it’ and man, I’m not kidding, after that speech, conversation, whatever he gave me, things started picking up and turning around for us. That’s when Darby [Allin] and Sting happened, that’s when Darby, Sting and [CM] Punk happened then Punk and Mox and all these things started rolling and getting into place and that’s how the universe works and what I perceive to be, not everyone, but I perceive to be God and faith, that’s how it all works and so, all that wrapped in on top of the titles, on top of Bret Hart working with us. That’s why I think 2022 has been the most fulfilling, successful year of our career.
On the August 17th episode of AEW Dynamite, former AEW World Champion CM Punk called out Hangman Adam Page while addressing his Undisputed Title match against the current champion Jon Moxley. It was said by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that no one knew Punk was going to call out Page. Punk would later address the note that he went off-script during an interview with Sports Illustrated.
FTR chimed in on the conversations surrounding Punk’s name and said the more attractive headlines were ran with opposed to talking about how Punk has gone out of his way to help the likes of Powerhouse Hobbs, Danhausen and Brock Anderson. Harwood wishes a lot of guys would view working with Punk as an opportunity to further elevate themselves opposed to looking at him as an ex-WWE talent that could take their spot in AEW.
Wheeler: I think it’s a lot of things from the past mostly [he said about the report/talks concerning CM Punk in AEW]. I think there’s a lot of old grudges, I think there’s a lot of old biases and I think there’s a lot of unresolved issues that are kind of changing how people react to CM now sometimes, because he’s been nothing but nice and helpful to anybody that wants it and I know there’s underlying animosity between — once you’re in wrestling for so long and especially at the top of it, there’s gonna be guys that don’t get along because you’re all vying for the same thing, you all want the same title and egos are gonna hit. It’s inevitable. I know there’s gonna be old tension, but as far as how he is as a person now, he couldn’t be more inviting, he couldn’t be more company-oriented as far as what he’s thinking and anything to the contrary, I really — I think it’s uneducated to go off on because there’s only been one side really, that’s all been the negative stuff and he hasn’t even really commented on it publicly because he’s not gonna give it that much time of day and that much notoriety because it doesn’t deserve it but I will say, especially if there’s two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle, it’s the truth, he’s been nothing but a great person, a great mentor to a lot of guys there, somebody who wants the best for the company. That’s why he’s wanting the biggest houses, the biggest gates, the most fans in the arena and so, it’s just… I think it’s just gonna be one of those things where time will tell. Over time, you’ll see he has been well-meaning, he has been doing some good stuff and like I said, anything to the contrary, in my opinion, just people being childish and behaving like middle schoolers.
Harwood: And insecurity. I’m not gonna speak much on it because all that was perfectly put but I’ll tell you this, what’s the better headline: ‘CM Punk goes into business for himself and shoots on somebody’ or whatever or, ‘CM Punk invites Will Hobbs into his locker room and explains to him for 30 minutes, what he could have done to better himself for the match earlier’ or if the headline says, ‘CM Punk goes to Danhausen who came to him and asked him for advice, watched his match and then CM Punk gave notes of advice of what he could do to better the match next time’ or if Brock Anderson says, ‘Hey, do you mind watching our tag match tonight?’ And CM Punk sits there and even though he’s got a busy night and watches it and says, ‘Come into my locker room. Anybody else wanna come into my locker room? Let’s talk about this.’ What’s the better headline? The more juicy headline is the one of him going into business for himself.
Wheeler: That’s the old Punk and this is not.
Harwood: The old Punk and right now, I think I can safely say he is one of our best friends because we all share the same passion for professional wrestling and sometimes passion gets mistaken for being an asshole, you know? Because you just want the best and he wants the best for AEW, he wants the best for himself as well. We all do but he wants the best for AEW and he puts AEW above himself and you know, I haven’t met too many guys who has the love and passion for professional wrestling that he has and I’ll close on CM Punk with this and we’ll move on. I wish a lot of people, a lot of the guys would look at it instead of saying, ‘Oh my God, this guy from WWE is here in AEW and he might be taking my spot’ to say, ‘Oh my God, this is a guy, a legit Hall of Fame background guy who has drawn money, who’s made money for a big company, who doesn’t wanna go back to the big company…’
Wheeler: And who came from nothing, made something of himself.
Harwood: Made something of himself. ‘Let me work with him and even if he’s beating me, let me work with him and that’ll put me as a bigger star.’ That was my whole mindset going into the match. Punk let me call the whole match but I knew just wrestling him, myself, Dax Harwood, just wrestling a legend like CM Punk puts me from here to here, you know what I mean?
At AEW All Out, FTR are going to be teaming with TNT Champion Wardlow and they’ll be taking on the trio of Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin).
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit ‘The Walkway to Fight Club’ with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
