FTR Address Being Left Out Of AEW Fight Forever

There was a bit of a stir this past weekend when a report emerged that FTR would not be included in the upcoming "AEW Fight Forever" video game upon its release. And while we still don't know why that's the case, both Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood provided some insight on the situation in an interview with Louis Dangoor of GiveMeSport. And at least according to them, neither Wheeler or Harwood is that upset.

"The only real issue is we were kind of blindsided by it," Wheeler said. "We found out, like not how you would expect. And when you find out something like that, something major, like being taken out of a video game, your mind automatically assumes the worst.So for us, it was like 'Is this something we need to worry about? Should we read between the lines here? Were we not told for a reason? And now that we are aware and now that we are out, what is that reason? Is it something we should worry about?'

"We got an answer. It made a lot of sense; very logical answer. We said 'Oh. Ok, cool.' As long as we don't have to worry about it, nonissue. That's what it was. We've known about it since, I don't know how long at this point, but for months. The fact that it came out yesterday? I have no idea why."

Harwood echoed his partner's statements. "FTR is not upset about being [left out], FTR does not blame anyone from pulling us out of the game," Harwood said. "Like Cash said, we heard about this, I want to say, maybe, March. It was before the Briscoes match. We heard about it a long time ago. I had someone, one of the journalists, message me and say "Is this true?" And I didn't respond to him. The first thing I did was text Cash obviously. I said 'Have you heard anything about this?' 'No let's text Tony and find out.'

"We texted Tony, talked to him. Legal texted us, we talked to them for a bit, we got our answer and it was a non-issue. We just wanted to make sure we weren't doing something wrong. If there's room to correct that, let us know. Then months later, last night, this article comes up, which I couldn't believe it didn't come out in March or whenever it was. It came out last night, and it just blindsided both of us. I don't care to be in the video game. Our worry is leaving a legacy, having fun with my best friend, and on top of all that, taking care of Marie and Finlay. That's all." The duo were also asked about the strong reactions their exclusion from the game, to this point, generated with the wrestling fanbase.

"It's awesome to know that people care about us that much," Wheeler said. " I love that they're upset about it, as far as they care about us, but I really hate the toxic environment it creates between people fighting over it. It isn't an issue, and it hasn't been. The only thing that worried us is that there was a very bad reason that we were being taken out. And when you get an explanation that makes a ton of sense, you don't worry about it anymore, because you got the answer, and it's not one you have to sweat."

This time, Harwood took a different approach from his partner. "For me, it was very cool," Harwood said. "For so long in my life, before my wife, I didn't feel loved all the time. I don't think I knew exactly what the feeling of real love was, because I'd never felt it. I had best friends, I have a great mom and dad still. But my dad was a hard a**. He's apologized since I had my daughter, but he was a hard a**, and he never really showed me that kind of love and affection. My mom was working all the time too, so we never really got to connect. I don't think, for so long, that I knew what real love was."

"And then when we turned babyface," Harwood continued, "I got real love from the fans. That was the coolest thing. So I'm embracing this babyface thing, and I don't care if that's corny or whatever. But to log on and see so many people upset because we've been pulled out, I can't lie; it made me feel good. Like 'Okay, that's love man.'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit GiveMeSport and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.