FTR Battle Hurt Syndicate After First Round Win In AEW No. 1 Contender Tag Tournament

With All In in the rearview mirror, AEW is looking ahead to the rest of the summer. The company announced on "Dynamite" that there will be a tournament to crown number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Titles. The 8-team tournament will take place over the next few weeks. Only the teams of Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight and FTR were announced for the tournament, with the other entrants left a mystery.

FTR defeated Knight and Bailey in the first round on "Dynamite," after a hard-fought match. Knight and Bailey did their best, but Harwood ended up pinning Knight to advance to the next round, where they will meet whoever the other first-round winners are. After the match, FTR was confronted by tag team champions The Hurt Syndicate, which led to a wild brawl between the two teams. FTR has been on a significant winning streak as of late. While Knight and Bailey were competing for the tag titles at All In 2025, FTR was battling The Outrunners on the pre-show, where they defeated the Newport Cigarettes-influenced team.

Hurt Syndicate have been world tag team champions since January, when they defeated Private Party on "AEW Dynamite." As it stands, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin have defended the titles a total of 6 times over the course of their 181-day reign. While defending their titles, they've also been dealing with hanger-on MJF, who joined the group at the behest of MVP but has since chafed against the tag champions, Bobby Lashley, especially.