FTR Sees ROH Returning To What It Was “In Its Heyday”

Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood (FTR) spoke with Dallas News to discuss the return of Ring of Honor after capturing the ROH World Tag Team Championship on Friday, April 1 at Supercard of Honor XV.

Cash was initially asked about the arm injury that he sustained a number of months ago and whether he was back to feeling 100% in the ring.

"It's not too bad," Cash said. "It's progressed. There's still going to be some weirdness to it, some tingling, and just a little bit of grip strength stuff still. But, all in all, it's fine. I can tape it up and even without being 100%, we're the best tag team on the planet. So, it's not going to stop us."

FTR also disclosed the future of Ring of Honor, now owned by Tony Khan, and how they feel the future should look for the promotion moving forward. Cash Wheeler noted that he'd like to see ROH be what it has always been.

"Personally, I would just like to see it continue to be what it's always been," Cash explained [h/t Dallas News]. "It's been a place that's provided some of the best wrestlers we've ever had come through our generation to start there. It was a proving ground, it was a learning ground. It was a place where I, personally, as a young teenage guy aspiring to be a wrestler – that was kind of high on my list as far as what I wanted to accomplish. At that point, making Ring of Honor meant you could really, really work.

"That meant, at the time, you were some of the best. You didn't get there just by being OK. So, I think it was a place where people strived to be because they knew it was something to be proud of, and also the only place you were going to be able to learn and go on to do the things that guys like CM Punk, and [Samoa] Joe, and [Bryan] Danielson, and [Seth] Rollins have done.

"There are so many guys that started in Ring of Honor and got their big first taste of mainstream wrestling, and that helped ready them, I think, for stuff like AEW, stuff like WWE, stuff like WrestleMania, stuff like TakeOver, All-In, Double or Nothing. That's kind of what it was, it was a place to prepare you for a long, successful career. And I think, hopefully, that's still the case."

Dax Harwood of FTR believes it will become less of a developmental system, but it will bring out what the promotion used to be back in its heyday.

"I think now it's going to be less of a developmental system, as some people have alluded to," Dax said. "I think it's going to be more of what it was in its heyday. I think Ring of Honor fans and professional wrestling fans are lucky that someone like Tony Khan bought the rights to Ring of Honor because he's just as big – maybe more – of a wrestling fan than everyone else out there watching. And he wants Ring of Honor to be successful. He wants to continue to be the proving ground of professional wrestling, and to have the greatest professional wrestlers come through that area."