In an interview with Wrestlezone (via Fightful), Dax Harwood spoke about the origins of the Rated FTR team, which he said was discussed since before Adam Copeland came to AEW. The team includes Harwood, Copeland and Cash Wheeler. They will face the Death Riders on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
He said: “No, oh no. We’ve been talking about this [since] before he came to AEW, when it was only a thought of him coming to AEW. Like you said, we have been part of a lot of groups. The funny part is, we get a lot of flak online, that we latch onto these people or whatever, but the crazy part to me is, even going back to FTRKO, do you think that, especially in the position we were in there, do you think it was Cash and myself that went to Vince [McMahon] and Sid, ‘Hey, put us with Randy.’ Randy said, ‘I would like to be with these guys.’ Same with [CM] Punk, CMFTR. Even though we were doing well in AEW, do you think it was us that went to Tony and said, ‘Hey, make sure you put us with Punk.’ Or was it Punk that said, ‘Hey, I want to be with these guys. I want to team up with these guys.’ Same thing with Adam Copeland. We are ten-time world tag team champions, one of the greatest tag teams of all time, but even comparing to Adam Copeland’s legacy, not too many wrestlers can. Do you think it was Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler that made Adam say, ‘Let’s team together.’ It’s everyone else that wants to work with us, and obviously, we are so ecstatic to work with them. But it’s so funny to me that people like to take that as, we want to latch onto other people’s success. But that’s neither here nor there. I do think that this is different. I think that the run that we could have had with Punk was kind of altered by a few injuries. I think that would have been very successful, and again, it was three really good friends. I think our run with Randy would have been extremely successful. It lasted for two months, and what we did was great. It could have gone on a lot longer. But this with Adam, I think it’s way different. Adam lives seven minutes from my house. His daughters are friends with my daughter. Me, Adam, and Cash have been friends for well over ten years. We have a wrestling school together. We call and talk to each other every single day, and we’re very like-minded, even outside the business. But in wrestling, this was our first love, and I’ll never forget that, and I’m sure they won’t either. So we’re very, very like-minded inside the ring, inside the business, but also outside. So I know it’s going to be a hell of a ride.“
