AEW's Cash Wheeler Considered Retiring While Battling Legal Issues

Former AEW Tag Team Champion Cash Wheeler finally got to move on from one of the darkest parts of his life earlier this year when all charges against him were dropped. Wheeler was arrested on August 18, 2023 in Orange County, Florida, was facing one charge of aggravated assault with a firearm following a road rage incident, and was expected to stand trial in May 2024. However, the prosecution decided to not move forward with the case.

Wheeler continued to wrestle throughout this period, but there's at least a few alternate universes in which he didn't. Wheeler and his FTR tag team partner Dax Harwood were recently guests on "AEW Close-Up" with Renee Paquette, where Harwood revealed that Wheeler was ready to give everything up because of his legal troubles.

"I guess maybe a week after he told me when it happened, he said ... 'I think I'm going to retire because I don't want to subject you to any of this stuff that I'm going through,'" Harwood said. "He knew there was backlash on Twitter because Twitter's the cesspool of all social media. He said 'I'm just going to retire and you don't have to worry ... I'm just going to leave wrestling.'"

Harwood explained that Wheeler was more than happy to go and live in his cabin back in his hometown. After talking everything through together, however, the pair decided the FTR story wouldn't end in 2023.

Knowing Wheeler's mind was halfway out the door at the time, Paquette asked FTR what it was like to come to work every day knowing it might be the last time they would work together. Wheeler admitted that it wasn't easy, but like other times in his life, wrestling was his safe space.

"I didn't love it," Wheeler said. "But at the same time it was the only chance I really had to escape from that ... I literally didn't know which match would be the last one, so every time we're going out there, I'm like 'Alright, let's go out here.'"

Harwood says he was scared that FTR would be no more and everything they had built for themselves would mean nothing, especially after carving out their own legacy following their WWE departure in 2020. He claims he had to be a calming voice for Wheeler, as he knew if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't have been able to sleep at night. However, the moment when they both knew everything was going to be okay was their match with The Young Bucks at AEW All In 2023, a match that wouldn't have happened had Wheeler not posted bail just days earlier.

"I was expecting the fans to turn on us, and they didn't, they embraced us and loved us even more," Harwood said.

Wheeler concluded by saying he knew people backstage probably talked about it, but because he knew deep down that he was innocent, he never got too stressed out about the situation, despite knowing the ramifications if things didn't go his way legally.

Please credit "AEW Close-Up" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.