FTR Fire Back At Jake Hager After Insinuation They Refused To Attend AEW TV Taping

FTR's Dax Hardwood and Cash Wheeler are firing back at former AEW talent Jake Hager after he insinuated on a podcast that the tag team refused to attend an AEW taping. On a recent episode of "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," Hager voiced his frustrations about many aspects of AEW and its president, Tony Khan, something he hasn't been shy about doing before. Hager brought FTR into the conversation when he was talking about a talent meeting held after issues with CM Punk happened in the company, though Hager didn't specify when exactly that was.

"...the boys got together and we had a meeting and this was the boys only, no office. Sting's in there, [Paul Wight], [Chris] Jericho, Bryan [Danielson], Mox, they're all standing at the front kind of like talking us through this s***," Hager explained. "Lo and behold, who comes into the room, storming in, daddy's little billionaire, and he's like, yelling at us, because I think it was Dax [Harwood] and Cash [Wheeler] didn't want to come in. They didn't like the storyline, so they refused to come to TV that day."

Hardwood and Wheeler immediately took to social media to clarify after Hager's comments went public. Hardwood posted on X (formerly Twitter) that both men were at the talent-only meeting and said it was called by Danielson. In addition to clarifying that Khan never interrupted, Hardwood said that they both were at the show.

"Cash and I have NEVER refused to show up to work and, I'd to dare say, if you look at our schedules since Collision started, we're the most consistent talent that make BOTH shows EVERY WEEK," he wrote.

Wheeler posted a screenshot of a text message conversation with Hager. In the message thread, Wheeler sent the initial story to the former AEW talent, to which the person on the other end, labeled as "Jake" in Wheeler's phone, apologized in the reply.

"I said I think it was you two... didn't say it def [sic] was. But that meeting happened," the reply read. Wheeler responded that Hager saying "I think" and then actually saying their names "made them look like a*******" and it wasn't them.

"We're a*******, but we show up for work," Wheeler told Hager, who apologized once again.

Hager left AEW back in May 2024 when his contract expired. The report at the time was that the decision for Hager to not re-sign with the company was mutual. Since then, Hager has retired from wrestling entirely, which he revealed in August 2025. In the past, he's been vocal about his dislike of Khan, which he further explained on the episode of "Insight."

https://t.co/duHoGmnZf9 pic.twitter.com/uvAYSfEoW1

— Daniel "Cash" Wheeler (@CashWheelerFTR) August 26, 2025

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.