Former WWE Tag Team Champion, FTR's Dax Harwood, recently spoke about his disappointing stint with WWE, and didn't hesitate to share his thoughts.
While fans tend to wonder why certain talent never live up to their full potential within the company, Harwood offered a rare look behind the scenes regarding why he and Cash Wheeler felt restricted during their time in WWE.
WWE Tag Team Wrestling Once Thrived Until One Man Changed Everything
Harwood took to X to respond to a fan who lamented how WWE made tag team wrestling seem "mid-card." Harwood agreed wholeheartedly and pointed a finger at a major creative influence behind WWE's decline in tag team storytelling.
This. THIS! For YEARS tag team wrestling was top of the card. Then, one man decided he hated it. Fans eventually accepted it because there was really no other choice. The excuse “I have to pay twice as much” is bullshit. Cash and I worked over 180 matches one year; more than any… https://t.co/S3HcnMUOZ4
— Dax FTR (@DaxFTR) June 15, 2025
"This. THIS! For YEARS tag team wrestling was top of the card. Then, one man decided he hated it. Fans eventually accepted it because there was really no other choice," Harwood wrote.
Whereas Harwood did not name the man specifically, it's generally understood he was referring to Vince McMahon, whose creative choices historically have downgraded the tag team division in favor of singles competition.
Read more: JBL Rips WWE Pressers as 'Horrible, But Backs Triple H for Fooling Fans With R-Truth Twist
Championships Without Respect
While with WWE, FTR, who was then known as The Revival, won the NXT, RAW, and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Behind all of that success, however, was a much bleaker truth. While they managed to wrestle more than 180 matches within just a year, more than anybody else on the roster, they were still the lowest earners, according to Harwood.
He also rebuked other wrestlers for being self-absorbed, more concerned with laying out flashy moves than creating stories. Harwood feels that tag team wrestling can be the most exciting aspect of any show if treated with the creative respect it's due.
Triple H Breathes New Life into WWE's Tag Team Division
Fortunately, all of this seems to be turning around. Since Triple H gained creative control within WWE, the tag team division has seen an upswing. It doesn't always go out and close out pay-per-views, but it's finally getting the respect fans and wrestlers have been calling for so long.
ITR Wrestling recalls a SmackDown episode last April 25 featuring a jaw-dropping TLC Triple Threat match between the Street Profits, DIY, and Motor City Machine Guns.
As for fans, they know where Harwood is coming from. One Redditor said that what he experienced was "genuinely depressing."
"Vince brainwashing fans and wrestlers did long-term damage to everyone, the people that are still convinced of going to WWE because 'it's everyone's dream and much mania moment' and being pleased with low payment...," another Reddit user wrote on the r/AEWOfficial thread.
"What's nuts about that, and I agree with Dax, is that so many wrestlers not only started as tag teams. But are also remembered fondly as such. Cause tag teams rule," another fan said.
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