Shortly after the injury of Adam Cole, AEW has to cope with another painful loss: The FTR duo has been blown up and must relinquish the tag team titles
Not only WWE, but also rival AEW surprisingly changed tag team titles over the weekend – not voluntarily, as has since been revealed.
The top team FTR unexpectedly lost the belts to the duo Ricky Starks and Big Bill (formerly: Big Cass in WWE) on the TV show Collision on Saturday. The reason is a real injury to FTR member Cash Wheeler, as reported by the Wrestling Observer.
So shortly after Adam Cole’s ankle fracture, AEW has to cope with the next loss of a main pillar of the league.
FTR held the tag team titles since March
Wheeler was quickly taken out of the match at Collision by Big Bill giving him a chokeslam through a table, partner Dax Harwood who was left to his own devices was then dispatched after a few minutes.
Wheeler’s injury – also in the headlines over the summer for a charge related to a gun threat in traffic – was portrayed as a result of the match against Aussie Open at WrestleDream the previous weekend. It is not known if this is in fact the case.
FTR – once known as The Revival in WWE – had held the titles for the second time since March, giving them prestige with many strong matches. Instead of a title change, the most recent indication was actually only a renewed match against the Young Bucks, who earned a title shot at WrestleDream – in the medium term, a “Dream Match” against the legends Adam Copeland and Christian Cage (Edge and Christian) reunited at AEW also seems on the horizon.
The two have also been in the spotlight this year as allies of their good friend CM Punk – who has since been fired for another backstage brawl at All Out in August.
While Punk is now negotiating with WWE, according to the Observer, FTR are tied to AEW until 2027. In the spring, after signing the contract, they had announced their intention to end their careers after that.
