FTR, formerly WWE’s The Revival, recently sat down for a wide ranging interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. During the interview they discussed how they helped both Randy Orton and Edge prepare for their match at Backlash 2020. The match was more commonly known as “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.”
On helping Randy Orton, Harwood said the following:
“Randy respected our work. He respected our work ethic. I mean, even to the point—I don’t know he wants me to tell this, but he can’t get too mad at me ‘cause he loves us—he flew down to Ashville to work with us for his greatest match of all time or whatever at Backlash because he wanted to get ready and he wanted to get his technical wrestling down and things like that. So, we created a bond, a friendship. I wish they would have went with it, but they didn’t. Maybe I’m glad they didn’t because now we’re having the time of our lives.”
Regarding helping Edge on his WWE return, Wheeler said:
“When I went it was just something where that was all us. I told him, “If you want to get in the ring, you need to get some work and to see how you feel, then just let me know.” He was like, “Yeah, I need to.” He’s like, “I’m lucky I have a Hall of Famer for a wife, she can do a lot with me. But, I need to get thrown around. I need to get picked up and dropped.” He’s like, “She’s my wife, I’m the father of her children. So, she’s gonna take it easy on me here and there because she doesn’t want to do this on her own. So, I need somebody that’s gonna come in and take the kiddy gloves off.” So, we went in, we called stuff on the fly. We were just wrestling around, we weren’t taking any bumps or anything yet. I put him in a sleeper, have him send me off. I come back, grab it again, slip behind him.
I said, “Belly-to-back.” He goes, “Huh?” and we just go up and down, and that was the first big bump he had taken and he was like, “Oh, man. I’m glad you didn’t tell me that was coming, but I needed that.” ‘Cause he hit, {Cash stretches his neck}, “I feel great.” That was just something we wanted to do because he wanted to see how he felt and prove to himself that he could do it”
On WWE Passing on forming FTRKO:
“By that point, I had told him that if they messed up this opportunity they had with us and Randy—and I said this one time before, that was with the Usos, but we were still kind of in the fold with them—but I told them, if they messed up this thing with us and Randy, there’s no reason for us to re-sign these contracts. None at all. But, yeah. We watched Roman Reigns go to Vince and say, “I want to work with these guys. I want them to beat me. We watched Bray Wyatt do that. Matt Hardy. The Usos. New Day. Then of course we watched Randy do it on a weekly basis. The reason it lasted for six or eight weeks is because of Randy,” said Dax, as Cash followed up saying Orton pushed for the trio for so long.”
On pitching angles for FTRKO:
“The things we were doing with him and New Day could have been such a great money making venture, but that wasn’t in the plans. That’s not what Vince wanted. You said you understand, or you can see why, guys don’t want to pitch. I get what you’re saying. But, man, why stop? I stayed up every single week. We would get two days home, and I’m infatuated with my wife and my daughter, but I would take hours away from them to sit in front of the computer that I’m sitting in front of right now to type up pitches and angles and storylines for me and Cash to present to the creative team, to present to Vince, and it never got used. But, I never stopped because I wanted us to be the best and I wanted them to know we’re working at least as hard as anybody else to be able to be on that television.”
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