IWGP Heavyweight and AAA World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood of FTR spoke with Matt Koon on a variety of topics such as how he thinks WWE Hall of Famer and pro wrestling legend Road Dogg did not like him from the very first day he met him as well as how the WWE Hall of Famer went to an unnamed source who was a huge part of the WWE and proceeded to bury him after he didn't like an idea that was pitched to him and how Road Dogg even told him he would make sure that Harwood never makes it to the main roster for calling a gimmick stupid.
Dax Harwood said:
“So I think from the day Road Dogg met me, he didn’t like me. We had a match that you may have heard of, against American Alpha at Dallas, NXT Dallas. That’s one of my favorites of all time. I had in my mind what that match was. I had a story I wanted to tell. I knew the false finishes I wanted. I knew exactly how we wanted the front half to go. I knew exactly what was going to work. He offered an idea the night before Dallas. We were talking with Jordan and Gable. I was explaining to them the story that I wanted to tell and he offered an idea. I didn’t shoot it down. I just didn’t think it fit into the story that I wanted to tell.”
“He went to an unnamed source who was a very big part of the WWE office and he proceeded to bury me and told that person that I thought I knew everything and I would never try to learn anything and all this stuff, and so you know, I had my own reservations about him.”
“Then come later that year, I want to say it was right around December, there was some sort of gimmick gauntlet tag team match on SmackDown and for some reason the fans thought The Revival was going to make their debut there. The fans were tweeting and freaking out over it. When the match was over, and you know, we were heels, and so I went on Twitter and said, ‘You fans thought that we were going to debut on the main roster in a stupid gimmick gauntlet match, you’ve lost your mind’, or something like that. At the time, Road Dogg was booking and he took offense to that because I said stupid gimmick. He proceeded right on Twitter that if I kept it up, he would make sure that I’ll never make it to the main roster, which if I never make it to the main roster that cuts into my money, which goes into the money that I make for my family, which I can provide for my daughter who can go to college, or I can make sure my wife has food on the table, and that’s what bothered me.”
Dax Harwood also spoke about how shortly following that he received a call and a text from former WWE Head of Talent Relations Mark Carrano because Road Dogg basically said he was going to make sure that he would never have any advancement in the company, so as a wrestler, he respects everything the Hall of Famer has done for the wrestling business and he respects the path he has paved for them, but as a person, he doesn’t know how much respect he has for him.
Dax Harwood said:
“Right after he put that tweet out, I got a call from Mark Carrano, or a text from Mark Carrano, and it lead to a call from both of those guys to make sure they were covering their tracks because Road Dogg basically said he was going to make sure that I would never have any advancement in the company. Legally, they’re not allowed to do that because they’re in power in a position in the office, and for him to say, ‘I’m going to make sure that you’re not going to move up and you can’t advance your your money’ legally he shouldn’t be able to do that, so they were trying to cover their tracks.”
“Then fast forward, and I’m sure we’ll talk about this one day, RAW 25, I had to go in there and make sure that all of Shawn and his friends looked like a million bucks. We got to the back and Road Dogg passed right by me. He didn’t say thank you after we bumped around for him. The only person that said thank you was Sean Waltman. So as a wrestler, I respect everything he’s done for the business and I respect the path he’s paved for us. As a person, I don’t know how much respect I have for him.”
You can check out Dax Harwood's full comments at this link. H/T to WrestlingNews.co for transcribing the above quotes.
