The Revolt On What Convinced Them To Ask For Their WWE Releases, WWE Not Pushing Tag Teams
As previously reported, The Revolt gave their first interview after being released by WWE on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho. Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, f.k.a. Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, respectively, talked about asking for their release and how they wanted more respect for the tag team division in WWE.
"It was right about the 15-month mark that we asked for our release," Cash said. "It was somewhere around mid-January 2019 that we asked initially, had asked the head office for our release. At the time, we were under impression, we were told that we were gonna get it. Things obviously changed. I remember it very clearly. We wrestled with Lucha House Party, and it was the first time we had gotten a victory over those guys.
"We had been doing three on one matches or three on two matches. We had fun with them. I enjoy working them because they had so much cool stuff, and I like being a base for a talented, high-flying babyface. I enjoy that. We had been told not long before that they had plans of putting the tag titles on us, and so it was starting that night that's why we got the first victory over them, but Dax and I, we had been debating for months about whether we wanted to stay or not."
Cash discussed the strategy of when to ask for their release. He noted that they were unhappy about the state of the tag team division and waited until they were receiving a bit of a push when they asked.
"Our plan was to get through the last Christmas loop because it's just such a big loop, it's a fun loop," Cash said. "You make good money on it, but you get to spend some time with close friends. It's a good locker room. We had said after this loop, let's wait until we're on the up-swing so it doesn't look like we're upset because we're losing. Let's wait until we're on the up-swing and then ask. That way people can know it's not just about us. It's about the tag team division as a whole.
"We're still adamant that long term, there's not enough attention paid to the tag team division because there's so many good tag teams there all the time that I think can contribute so much more, but we had the victory that night against Lucha House Party, and we knew that the tag titles were in our immediate future."
The Revival were set to win the tag team titles, but Cash talks about how devalued the titles were after Braun Strowman had won the titles with a 10-year-old kid. He also talked about how no tag teams were featured on SummerSlam until the last minute.
"That's when we asked because we wanted to make a point that we know things are going decent for us. They're going well all things considered, but we're not happy. The tag team titles, they don't really mean anything," Cash stated. "This has nothing to do with Braun. Braun's a great guy. I get along with him really well, but he had steamrolled the entire tag team division, and a 10 year old won the tag titles at WrestleMania.
"No tag teams were featured on SummerSlam, until the last minute they added the Women's Tag Titles, which I'm all for. It's just that it was so last minute that people didn't even know. We wanted to make the point that the tag division doesn't get respect. It doesn't get the time we think all of these teams deserve. We want to take chances on ourselves. So that's why we asked when we asked. It went on for a long time."
Dax noted that he felt that WWE may have thought they were bluffing when they requested it. He also addressed the leak of the release soon after they asked for it and the accusations that they were complaining and being crybabies.
"When we asked for out release in January, we went straight to the top and asked for it, and I think, initially, they may have thought we were bluffing," Dax stated. "They had said, 'well, we were planning on putting the tag titles on you, and we were planning on this big run,' and Daniel [Cash] said verbatim, 'look, it's not about the tag titles. We don't care about winning the tag belts. We don't care about having a big run. We want the whole division to be featured, and we want everyone to get an opportunity to work.' And so they said OK we'll give your release. We went to the talent relations office, they said yeah you can have your release, and I'm not kidding you man, as soon as we walked out of that talent relations office, everyone knew. I don't know how. Everyone knew we had asked for it.
"Right after that was when people started to say we were complaining like we were getting tagged a lot on Twitter saying we were complaining and being crybabies, but I dare you to ask any of our co-workers if we ever complained. Last year in 2019, we were booked more than any other talent on that roster. So I would think if all we did was complain, they would have stopped booking us. We worked our ass off in 2019 because we wanted, not just us, but we wanted the tag division to be something, and we wanted to show Vince tag team wrestling could be something. It just never panned out like that."
The team never received their release last year and Dax admits that they knew that nothing would change with the tag team division even after they aired their grievances. Cash talked about a producer they had talked to who believed that things would change, but nothing ever did.
"I think we knew, underneath it all, that there was never going to be real push for real tag teams. For whatever reason, I don't know what it is, if you're in the tag team division and you're two singles guys thrown together, you have a much better chance being featured than you do as a standard tag team that looked the same, worked the same," Dax said. "We knew there was never going to be a real focus on the tag team division, and that's why we worked so hard through 2019 to try to make it a focus.
"I think when we spoke to the office, we spoke to one guy in particular that's always been very open with us, and I felt like, in his heart, maybe he believed it," Cash noted. "I think he really thought that things were going to change that power would shift and there would be more things delegated out to different people and things wouldn't be so reliant on one guy. I think honestly he believed it. When he told us things were going to change, at the time, I think he meant it, and I think he was very hopeful."
Dax revealed a conversation he had with his grandmother about his release and how he was convinced to turn down the money that they were being offered to stay. They also talked about working through their contracts until they expired because they knew that nothing was going to change.
"We had spoken about it for quite a while. It was hard for me because I have a family. So it was hard for me to turn down the money they were offering us. I think it was harder for Daniel because he told me, 'man, I'll do whatever you want to do. I just want to make sure your family is taken care of.' It goes back to wanting to do something special for the business, wanting to do something and give back to professional wrestling. I talked to my grandma about it, and she said that's a lot of money for you to turn down," Dax said. "She got quiet for about 15 seconds and said, 'but David, how much money do you really need?' As soon as she said that, I said, 'you know what? You're exactly right.' And I talked to Daniel, and we both came to the agreement that we were gonna work through our deals, we're gonna be as professional as possible, do whatever they want us to do and work our ass off, but as soon as we're up, we were out of there."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.