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Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, the team known in professional wrestling as FTR, announced Saturday that they will be taking an extended absence from All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
FTR lost to Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in an I Quit match at Double or Nothing last month and relinquished the AEW World Tag Team Championship in the process. It was their third reign as champions and they have not appeared on AEW programming since then.
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FTR hits a Shatter Machine on Christian Cage at the AEW Double or Nothing event in Queens, New York on May 24, 2026. (Lee South/AEW)
Harwood wrote a lengthy post on Instagram, signaling that the group would be taking some much-needed time away from the ring to rest their bodies and minds.
“Since the summer of 2014, The Revival, FTR, Dawson & Dash, Dax & Cash, whatever you want to call us, we’ve been hitting the ground running. Aside from my torn bicep in 2017, we wasted no time on the job we dreamed of having. Physically and mentally we were both exhausted,” he wrote.
“We were two of the rare talents who traveled and worked on both ‘Collision’ and ‘Dynamite.’ I suffered 3 bruises in my lower back, another torn bicep that I decided not to have surgery for, a torn labrum from the groin to the hip, a shoulder that needs to be replaced and probably a long list of other things that I’m too scared to get checked out for haha.
“For the first time in 12 years, we have decided to step away and take some time for ourselves and our families. I don’t know when we will come back, what we will do, how much time we have left, or if we still have to prove anything.”
Dax Harwood stands in the corner during the taping of AEW Dynamite Beach Break at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio on January 26, 2022. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)
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Harwood said FTR will still be in action to face Ken Anderson and Doc Gallows in Kentucky at the end of August. Until then, he will be in Hawaii.
“In the meantime, enjoy my Hawaii family vacation photos. Top Guys, out.”
Wheeler said in a separate interview that FTR had interest in competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s (NJPW) World Tag League.
“There were other things schedule-wise that would never work,” he said on “Late Night Grin” earlier in the week. “So I’m saying this now, after discussing how we feel physically, I would like to attempt a World Tag League before calling it quits.
“I don’t know if we’re going to make it. I might just give up in the middle of a match. Not even in a submission. Go home. Take a bad bump, roll and it’s over. I did my best everyone. I’m sorry. But I would love to try at least World Tag League once, because it’s always been something we’ve always wanted to do and we’ve accomplished almost everything else.”
Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood celebrate their victory during New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Edion Arena Osaka in Osaka, Japan on November 5, 2022. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
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Harwood and Wheeler have been one of the best teams in professional wrestling for several years. Three AEW tag team titles in about seven years certainly proves how great they’ve been.
