AEW Star Recalls Nixed WWE Pitch For Parody Gimmick

WWE

Dax Harwood of FTR has revealed that there was a pitch for them to parody different wrestlers from the 1980s while they were still with WWE.

Harwood and Cash Wheeler were finally granted their WWE releases in April 2020, over a year after originally asking to be let go by the company.

Following their WWE departures, Harwood and Wheeler continued to establish themselves as somewhat of a throwback act, paying homage to great tag-teams of the past.

Speaking on his FTR podcast, Harwood recalled a pitch for them to parody some of their favourite teams:

“Before the clown outfits were presented to us, the initial idea was, Cash and I were going to be a different 80s wrestler or tag team every week.

“Bruce (Prichard) told us this, he tried to sell us, ‘this is the greatest thing in the world. Week one, you’re going to come in as The Fantastics. We’re going to give you the little trunks with your ass cheeks hanging out.

“You’re going to wear coattails and high-top hats, you come strutting out, sequins everywhere. Next week, you’re gonna be the Bushwhackers, you come out and lick each other’s heads and do the walk.

“The next week, you’re going to come out in tassels and wearing old rock n roll headbands, you’ll be the Rock N Roll Express. The following week, you’ll be Bobby (Eaton) and Dennis (Condrey), and we’ll give you mullets.’

“You think this is money? This was when we had turned down the contracts. You’re going to waste television time to have us do this, just to embarrass us? That’s the part to me that’s stupid.

“Not giving us the characters that is stupid, you’re going to waste television time to embarrass us, why, to make Vince (McMahon) laugh? Bruce is going to call us in his office to try to sell us on it, as it’s this great visionary idea.

“I looked at Bruce, we kind of had words, ‘You think this is good?’ ‘This is great for you guys, it’s what you need.’ I’m going to be making fun of the people that I think have built this business and legacy.

“We’re not only going to s**t on me and Cash, we’re going to s**t on them too, ‘the Rock N Roll Express are nothing but jokes. The Fantastics and Fabulous Ones were corny 80s wrestling.’ These are my heroes.

“The next week they told us that, they gave us the verbiage of ‘going down yonder to sit on the creek with our grandma and grandpa to shoot some muskrats.’ Whatever they think rednecks say.

“I had the mic to say the verbiage and I said, ‘this is some real Martin Scorsese s**t,’ and I threw it down.”

Harwood also recently told a story about an incident with Alexa Bliss that got him ‘chewed out’ by Vince McMahon.

Harwood and Wheeler are currently taking some time off while they consider their futures ahead of their AEW contracts expiring in April.

Transcription via Fightful.

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