Have FTR Lost Their Momentum In AEW?

The ground-breaking team of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have been living in the midst of a career-run throughout the past year, adopting belt-collector status and picking up huge wins in critically acclaimed matches. FTR have not only scored the IWGP Tag Team Championships, but also the AAA and Ring of Honor titles, bringing them all to the mainstream stage of All Elite Wrestling in the process. However, despite their rampant success and surging popularity, Dax and Cash have yet to fully capitalise on their string of wins and have almost faded into the background of the tag division.

What hasn’t changed though is their penchant for putting together stellar performances with other high-ranking teams across the globe. Most recently, FTR defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against the team of Aussie Open at Royal Quest II in London. Following what has been referred to already as a 7* match, the duo called out Tony Khan for not booking them consistently on AEW television, a criticism that has come through often on social media.

FTR have only been featured twice on episodes of Dynamite and Rampage since Forbidden Door, a real shame considering just how much of a reaction they get from the live audience whenever they do show up. Wrestling fans want to see FTR do their thing more often than they do, and considering they are the highest ranked team in the AEW tag division, it begs the question why they haven’t been given their rightful championship match.

Originally, you could assume that AEW were holding off on giving FTR their deserved shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship belts, the final feather in the proverbial cap if you will, until All Out in September. However, that shot went to the equally popular team of The Acclaimed, who put on a fantastic match against Swerve in our Glory, despite not walking away with the titles. Even though The Acclaimed have now gone on to win the titles, it seems a little off to me that they were given the opportunity before FTR and have yet to really answer for the fact that they essentially skipped the line.

AEW have been pretty hot on their ranking system since the get-go, but this obvious overruling of FTR’s contendership has really put a strain on their momentum. This isn’t to say that fans no longer care about FTR, if anything they’re starting to care more to try and get them over in the same vein as Daniel Bryan circa 2014 and Kofi Kingston in 2019. But really, AEW should have been thrusting FTR into the stratosphere as soon as they started being draped in gold. It makes for the perfect story to see them attempt to pick up the one final Tag championship to make them the most decorated in the industry today outside of WWE.

The performances they’ve had with the likes of The Young Bucks, The Briscoes and now Aussie Open have been more than enough to warrant them a potential ‘wrestlers of the year’ moniker – that goes for both singles and duos wrestlers. But not giving them the chance at the AEW Tag titles almost takes away from that fact, perhaps a sign that AEW don’t really see FTR as a long-lasting attraction. Regardless, they’ve booked themselves into a position where they need to be giving FTR this chance to shine on a big stage.

I for one will admit that I didn’t expect FTR to become as big as they have done on the independent scene. Yes, they had some spectacular matches in WWE, but never would I have imagined them to rejuvenate the global Tag scene like they have done, let alone then have singles success on top of that. AEW, as well as the rest of the wrestling world, should not be sleeping on FTR, they should not be holding them back from becoming the biggest team of all time. This is their moment, give them the ball and let them sprint.

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