AEW's Cash Wheeler Recalls Canceled Singles Match With CM Punk

Cash Wheeler has explained why he rarely wrestles as a singles wrestler and recalled the one occasion when he turned down the chance to face CM Punk in AEW.

Wheeler and his FTR tag team partner, Dax Harwood, had teamed with Punk a few times during the latter's time in AEW. On the "Late Night Grin" podcast, Wheeler detailed how he pitched the idea of not wrestling Punk, with Punk eventually facing Penta on "AEW Dynamite."

"Like, there are times where I kind of get [the desire and say], maybe I should do a singles match here or there, so Dax doesn't have to do as much and put a toll on his body. But there's been a couple of times [to wrestle in singles], where I was supposed to wrestle Punk in a singles match, but I want to say it was right after we'd had the stuff with the Briscoes, or the Briscoes and the Bucks. And I was like, I don't know if me wrestling as a heel in a singles match is the way to follow up on all this stuff right now. And everybody agreed, and it was like, all right. I think he ended up wrestling Penta instead. But that's probably the better call anyway because I think Penta is a great performer," he said. 

The Punk-Penta clash took place in 2022, just a few weeks after Punk had gotten the better of Harwood in a singles match. Wheeler opened the door to possibly doing some singles matches in AEW, while also adding that he would certainly do them once he retires as a TV wrestler.

"I do want to do some singles here and there, but I also think that'll probably be like an indie run once we're done as FTR, because I don't know if I've ever said this online, but I don't think I'll ever officially retire from wrestling, but I will officially retire from TV wrestling," he stated.

Wheeler said he wants to wrestle on the indies as a singles star purely for the love of wrestling and to face a wrestler he admires.