AEW Star Opens Up About Backstage Reunions At Wrestle Kingdom 17

WWE

Dax Harwood has opened up about his NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 experience, and reunions with old friends.

During the January 4 show, Harwood and Cash Wheeler dropped their IWGP Tag Team Championship to the team of Hirooki Goto & Yoshi Hashi.

Speaking on his FTR podcast, Harwood called his Tokyo Dome visit a dream come true, admitting that he got emotional when he first entered the arena:

“Dream come true (competing at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17). I text Cash (Wheeler) because everyone has heard, I think so far, his travel woes.

“He had a lot of travel issues with documents and then delayed flights and canceled flights and then driving eight hours to Atlanta to get that flight canceled. It was such a bad day for him. He got in about 30 minutes before bell time.

“He was very stressed out and tired but I walked into the Tokyo Dome alone and just walked into the arena and I know that it sounds very cliché or whatever but I walked in and immediately broke down in tears man, because I saw the whole setup, I saw the whole deal and realizing that me and my best friend almost three years ago had decided to step away from the biggest wrestling company in the world and now we’re part of, we’re a main part of a huge show at the Tokyo Dome for the IWGP Tag Team Championships. It was an amazing feeling.

Harwood and Wheeler were reunited with several stars backstage at the event, including Mercedes Mone, Naomi and WWE stars Bayley and Karl Anderson.

Recalling the reunions, Harwood said:

“Yeah dude, I guess I did (reunite with some old friends). Japan was such a great homecoming, reunion, whatever you wanna call it. Man, seeing Mercedes (Moné) and seeing Pam (Bayley), Naomi, seeing Karl Anderson, it was such a great time, so fun.

“Then we all went out for Korean Barbeque and had drinks and I know it wasn’t 2022 but it capped off a great 2022 and it couldn’t have been any better than that.

“Those two girls are two girls that I’m absolutely in love with. I think they’re incredible human beings.

“I think that they love wrestling with every bit of their human body they have and the best part is, they will always stand up for what they believe in and Naomi as well but yeah, it was a great time.”

Harwood spoke more about Mercedes NJPW debut, which you can read about right here.

Transcription via POST Wrestling. 

Think you’re a wrestling mastermind? Well you can prove it by taking quizzes in our brand new quiz section! Don’t forget to tweet us your results!

• Wrestle Kingdom
• dax harwood
• NJPW
• AEW

Share this article with friends