November 25, 2025 • 24 mins
FTR returns to the Battleground Podcast. We talk their upcoming match for a potential three-peat as AEW Tag Team Champions, the rise of Brody/Bandido, and how unorthodox challengers stack up against the self-proclaimed greatest tag team of all time and their iconic feud with the Briscoe Brothers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You'll play for all things pro.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Rely and exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlersund
podcast stop.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Being What's up you guys? Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official
wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast. It is a e W
full gear week, and man, it is a stacked week
for sure. And joining us are no strangers on this show.
They've been on here plenty of times. And they got
(00:38):
a big match ahead of them this week. And give
it up for FTR joining the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
On guys, and hey, what crowd?
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Crowds all here, Let's.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Get it bigger? Of course.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Uh, you guys have a big match ahead of you
this weekend. You recently earned another shot at those tag
team titles after a wild four way and of course
now you're in that talks of the three p for
the ae W Tag Team champions.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
How does the.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Team of Brodido compare to past teams that you have
faced for those titles.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
I think they're a little more unorthodox than any other
team we've worked with before, wrestled before. I mean, you know,
you talk about the teams we've we've wrestled, you know,
in the past, like the Young Bucks and even Jet
Speed you know who is a newly formed team as well.
They all are well oiled machines. And not to say
(01:34):
that Brodido isn't a well oiled machine. They're just, like
I said, very unorthodox. But for some reason, they have
chemistry and they they they they're working well together. Brody
is very large individual and Bandido maybe the best wrestler
in the world today.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
But putting those two.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
Factors together, I would say, don't equate you to the
greatest tag team of all time.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, they're very different than most tag teams we've ever
faced before, even though we've had history with Brody, who've
never faced this iteration before.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Right Like, it's always been a different style of partner.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
And Bendido hands down as probably the singles male wrestler
of the year at this point, or at least he's
on his way to it, and now he's on top
of the aw tag world too.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
So I mean, you look at what he's done individually.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And now with Brody and their friendship, with their history
and how much chemistry, how well they jailed at such
a short amount of time. And we can speak firsthand
because we had a front row seat for a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
We went thirty minutes of those guys in Glasgow two.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
We had the Triple Threat the next night and or
not the next night but at Forbidden Door, and they
pinned us in that match. Whether it was the legal
guy or not, that's not my place to say it
was not illegal. But those guys are spectacular. With both
of them, Brody is one of the best big men
in the business. I love being in there with him
(03:03):
because he's so physical and that that is what I prefer.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
But Bendido and him together it's a crazy combination. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Absolutely. And when you when you see these tag teams
get thrown together, sometimes you're like, is this really going
to work? Because most of the time it's just kind
of a one off. Here we're done. But it seems
like these guys work. But it's more you have the
advantage because you guys have been a tag team for
way much longer.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Oh yeah, well, I mean I think we have an
advantage over any tag team in the world, not even
because of because of our relationship and how long we've
been aa team. But I don't know if there's any
other team in the world maybe of all time that
has that studies professional wrestling like us, and that maybe
takes it as seriously as we do, sometimes.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
A little too seriously.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
But on the other side of the coin, you know,
those guys have a lot to have a.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Lot to prove. They want to hold onto the tag
team champion.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
I think a lot of people did think what you
guys may have fought, they were thrown together team, and
I think that they want to prove that they're more
than that because those.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Guys have been friends for for a long time.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
I mean, they may not have been, you know, tag
team partners in a wrestling ring for that amount of time,
but they've known each other for the better part of
a decade. They've worked in Ring of Honor together, they've
worked in Mexico together, and so they've traveled together. So,
you know, as much as I'd like to say FTR
has the advantage, and we absolutely do have an advantage,
(04:32):
it's not the advantage that a lot of the casual
fans may think.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, no matter how long we've been teaming, I've always
thought when we stepped in the ring that we had
the advantage because we are just all around better wrestlers.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
We are smarter, we're more well studied.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We've trained this forever, like this is what we want
to do, and like we've been obsessed with making history
since the moment we became a team.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Like everybody else wants to do certain things that they
find we just wanted to go down in history. Is
the best step or do it?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That's what we've been chasing since day one, and we
have plenty of big match experience at this point. It's
today is the nine year anniversary of Toronto d I
y two out of three falls. We've been doing this
at a high level for a long time. They have to,
but we're always gonna have the advantage if you ask me.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Well, speaking of the history of FTR, Stokey Stokely Hathaway
has joined the ranks over the last year, and the
quote has been you guys have wanted to work with him,
even going back to the previous employer days, and you know,
it's one of those things where you don't necessarily need him,
but then you look at you know, Jimmy Hart with
(05:39):
the Heart Foundation, or Paul Allering with the Legion of
Doom or Road Warriors whatever wherever they were. What from
a talent standpoint, what drew you guys to him, and
then what does he bring to the team, know as
f tr uh.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Yeah, like you, you said that we don't need him,
and that that is that is true to an extent,
But I also don't think that he necessarily needs us either.
I mean, just because he's such a talented human being.
I mean not even in front of the camera, but
behind the camera as well. He's just as charismatic and
justice funny, and I think he knows who he is.
(06:15):
But we wanted we had pitched an idea back in
twenty nineteen and twenty nineteen beginning of twenty twenty to
have him as our manager, and it just didn't pan out.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
And then fast forward to twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
The beginning of twenty twenty two, we had gotten rid
of Tolly and there was a guy who was his
contract was coming up, and his name was Malcolm Vivens
at the time, and I told Tony that I think
he'd be a great guy for us to work with,
and that was the plan when we brought him in.
But fate just had it that the fans took a
liking to us for whatever reason, and we spent the
(06:54):
better part of three years on the opposite side of
the coin with Soakley. Now, I think that he brings
a whole different code of paint to what FTR is,
what they have been.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
What they've represented for so long.
Speaker 6 (07:08):
I also think that we are able to feed off
of his charisma and the energy that he brings. And
I think that this run that we've had so far
is probably one of our most to me at least,
is one of my most fun runs that we've had
because we've been exploring a much deeper character within ourselves
(07:33):
and that's, you know, thanks in.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Part just to Stokely.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, he's such a talented individual and he's so so
multifaceted and that dynamic like the fact that he can
be funny, he can be serious. He knows when to
involve himself or interject, he knows when to tone it down.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
He doesn't take away from what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Like I think his understanding of wrestling as a whole
is what's helped make this work so well for us,
because he knows when it's.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Time for him to beat him and turn it on
and do what he.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Does, and he knows when it's time to let us
do what we do, and we also all know when
it's time for us all to get on the same
page work together. Hey Stokele, we need you to do this,
and he's he's there every time. He's so reliable, he's
so good at it. He understands it almost from a
wrestler's point of view, which is rare with a manager.
But he's he's smart and that makes a world of
(08:24):
difference for us.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
And the fact that he is so entertaining it is
fun for us. It makes this new for us.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
It's something where like it's listening to him talking about
getting no hose, it's all over the place, like I
could not keep it together because his delivery is so
perfect and he's he's so mad when he says it
right right, Like he's just go on all day about
Stoke and how balented he is. But I love what
he brings to what we were doing right now, and
(08:54):
he's added so much to it.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, I think I think that.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
I think the reason that works is because we've had
this philosophy for you know, eleven years now, and that's
there's no selfish ambition. When we talked when we first
started teaming, it wasn't one of the you know, at
the time in the company we were with, it was
more or less two singles guys together and they wanted
this guy wanted to get his stuff in and this
guy wanted to get his stuff in. And when we
(09:19):
first started teaming up, we threw that out of the
window and listened. We said, how can we make each
other look better? And as a unit? And Soapley is
the exact same way as us. He doesn't want to
overshadow or he doesn't want to overshadow us. We don't
want to overshadow him, and we both want to accentuate
the other, the the other characters. And I think that
I think that's what's made it work so far as there's,
(09:41):
like I said, no selfish ambition, and we don't mind
letting him shine and he doesn't mind letting us shine.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You talk about how entertaining he was. I think back
to recently, because my eight year old loves to watch
wrestling with me. I think back to that moment where
he had bro Brody stuck behind the door and Brody
punches the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Whole My eight year old laughed his ass off.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
That was like something out of Adam Sandler movie. I
mean it was absolutely perfection.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
But like you guys said, he bring he brings the
entertainment to where you guys can be serious, and then
he brings it to where, like you said, you're you're
trying not to break on TV, but he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, the perfect he's the perfect balance for us because
we are too serious most of the time, and he
helped bring that lighthearted this out a little bit more
where like I'll say it, we're hilarious. We're probably more
charismatic than anybody else in this this wrestling world, right, we.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Don't show that all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
We take a step back for the rest of the
world to appreciate others.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
But Stokely helped to bring that out of us. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Absolutely, and it's fun to watch it on TV for sure. Now,
one thing that that's awesome is you guys have done
it everywhere. Everywhere you've gone, You've won titles, different promotions,
different style, else, same results every time you win. Right
when you look in the mirror, now, do you ever
think about how the version of FTR in today's society
(11:10):
compares to how you were when you first started.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I do, and I think that we've changed over time.
To an extent, but we always try to stay true
to ourselves, and wrestling in twenty twenty five is still
a lot different than wrestling in twenty fifteen. So we
want to try to give people what they what they deserve,
but we like to do it still on our terms,
(11:37):
and we like to take the people on the ride
that we want to take them on, and not the
other way around, where we're only doing it the way
that people tell us to do. That's, you know, you've
got to listen to the fans at times, but other
times you got to make them think they know what's
going on, and then you take you.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Jerk the rug out from underneath them. And that's what
I think we're always going to.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Try to hold true to is keeping wrestling grounded as
much logic as you can in this world, because there's
not a whole lot of logic in wrestling, So keeping
it grounded in logic and trying to keep the fans guessing,
I think, you know, I think that you know, for
so long, for for a very long time, we were
(12:16):
just trying to do things to make people react, right,
and we were just trying to get noticed and trying
to get to where we are.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Now that's where we wanted to be.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
And I hope this isn't speaking out of turn or
like too much of a pad on the back.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
But now that you know over the last.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Since you know, since twenty twenty two, I would say
that we're finally because we've seen the metrics and everything.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
We're finally over.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
And so I hope that's not speaking out of Turner
being too like egotistical, but we're finally over. So now
you know, we get to I get when we put
matches together. Now it's it's cool to put like perimeters
on the match or like put a what is the
(13:01):
word that I'm looking at, put like a.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh my god, I just talked to my life about
this today business.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
But try to put a goal set, a goal that
maybe other wrestlers aren't doing in their match. You know
a lot of wrestling today, not just from our company,
but from you know, all the companies. They have these
tropes they do right because they know there's going to
be a built in reaction to that, whether it's a
dive or a you know, a you know a certain
(13:29):
spot or whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
I know what that is.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
And so now we try to put these perimeters on
the match and say, okay, well we know that four
matches tonight are going to do this, so let's take
it the other way and see if we can get
an emotional response from the fans instead of a you know,
a built in this is awesome or you know, clap
because someone died over to the top rope. So I
(13:52):
think that's the biggest difference now than when we were before,
and also obviously a hell of a lot older. I
was watching our match this past week and I was like,
how in God's name am I bumping and feeding? That
may be too much inside baseball and feeding. I'm forty
one years old? Why am I doing that? But but
then I remember the direct DEPOSITI over two weeks, and
(14:14):
that's why.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're like, oh, yeah, yeah that remember that, Remember that
that pair of shoes or whatever you know, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
We did in twenty fifteen somehow, Yeah, right, hey, there
you go.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's a victory right there, yeap.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So you guys are you know, classificuted, you know, kind
of the old school approach and all that good stuff,
the revival and all that. You know, there's still you know,
there's a new crop of that we're seeing Adam Priest
has popped up on aw programming. Tommy Billington, do you
think that, you know, kind of in this air of
you know, instant video and instant moments and viral and everything,
(14:55):
do you feel it like the old school approach is No.
I intend to kind of do for another revival, kind
of that old school Matt psychology approach that you guys
are kind of known for.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And I think everything is cyclical, like wrestling goes in cycles.
And I do think that people for the past five years,
five six years have been into the the escalating bumps,
the escalating style, the car crash upon car crash, had
dropped upon head dropped style, yep. And I think people
(15:30):
have been refreshed by seeing people scale that back a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And you see, like Zach.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Saber Junior is a guy who does very little to
none of that type stuff, but he's been at the
top of his game and like steadily gaining that momentum
in the past few years to the point where he's
had a banner year for himself the past year. So,
and you mentioned Adam Priest and Tommy Billington, and there's
a couple other guys that they're they're not the norm
(15:57):
for what is going around now, the current younger generation
or style.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I do think that people now are wanting to
see more of what evokes emotion out of them as
as opposed to what he evokes, like the oh shit
out of them disgusting. But yeah, I just think that
now people what to be taken on a ride, like
we said before, as opposed to just seeing people getting
(16:27):
more and more dangerous.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
They're absolutely a you know, I don't necessarily believe in
the or subscribe to the theory of old school and
new school. You know, it's about what works and what
doesn't work, that's it. But but if we are talking
about old school, and if we're going to use that
phrase and use that term, there absolutely is a place
(16:51):
in the world for it today. And those guys have
gotten recognized because they are allowed or they have allowed
themselves to wrestle that way. It's gonna take a lot
of self confidence as a wrestler to do that. I mean,
like I was just saying earlier, it's easy to fall
into the tropes and make the people make noise, even
(17:11):
if it's just the people doing their part of the
show when you step outside of the wrestling box what
the wrestling box is in twenty twenty five, and you have.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Enough enough.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Confidence in your own abilities to say, Okay, I'm gonna
try something different instead of going straight, I'm gonna take
a slight left turn and see where it takes these people.
It may not work that night, you know, or it
may not work the way that you thought, but people
will still remember it because it is a slight left turn.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
But yeah, you gotta.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
I think that that's why the indis maybe aren't as
popular as they have been before, is because every single
person is wrestling the same and there is no there
you know, there is no diversity as far as the
styles go today. But any wrestler's listening, you just gotta
(18:02):
believe in yourself and understand that they're going to be
there for you as long as you put forth the effort.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Absolutely, Well, I know that our time is coming up here,
so I've got just a couple more questions before we
let you go. I know recently there was there was
chats online Tony Kansa that he had interested in building
an AW like affiliated training facility out in Asheville, and
he literally name dropped you and Adam Copeland just wanted
to kind of get an update on that. What's going on?
(18:31):
Is this still a real conversation happening or is the
book kind of closed on that chatter.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
You'd have to ask Adam and Beth on that one.
There's still a little upset after Toronto, So I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Know, Oh, something happened in Toronto.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I don't know where that stands.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
All I know is that that is I don't know
for for cash too, but you know, speaking specifically for me,
training is something that I'm very very very interested in,
something I love doing win and uh, you know, we
did have a few guys and girls come to Asheville
from AW and uh they were doing very well. We
(19:11):
were working with staying Son as well, and uh, you know,
it is something that is an itch that uh, training
will stretch for me and I hope to one day
be able to do that. You know, if it's with AW,
that would be even better. So we'll see right now.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Honestly, especially for us, we do most weeks we do
dynamite and collision and that's you know, four days on
the road or so given at that point. So it's
hard to like and then you count pay per views
or international tours, like we got Nework this week for
Full Gear, then we got Cardiff and everything coming up
(19:49):
in December, so like there's there's no set schedule for
us ever, and it's a lot of weeks where it's
up in the air where you're just not home enough
at all. So it might be easier for us once
we're a little more part time. Also, Yeah, and again,
if Adamcbeth get over this slight misunderstanding in Toronto, maybe
we can get that figured out.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That was you know, it's just an accident.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
It was a misunderstanding. It's you know, I was I
was blinded. Try to stop him, but it's too late.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You know, what accidents happened. Workman's comp will fix that
later down the road, you know. So last question before
we'll let you go, because I mean, we have you
guys here on and when when you think of tag
team wrestling, when you think of feuds, obviously we have
to bring up FTR.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Versus the Brisco.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I mean that feud is up there with you know,
the likes of the Rock and Roll Express versus the
Midnight Express or the Free Birds and the Von Erics.
When you guys started that that feud with him. Did
you think that it was going to be that sort
of magnitude that we're all sitting here putting it up
there with those feuds of the von Erics and the
free Birds and everyone else.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I didn't.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I mean, we had never met those guys, you know,
until we met them, you know, and we had never
been in the ring with them. So obviously, when you've
never been in the ring with someone, that can go
either really good or really bad. And again, I think
that was for guys who who did trust their abilities,
and we didn't have to rush anything, and you know,
(21:20):
we knew we had the opportunity to create something, to
create something special. But I think we were trying to
create something special for ourselves too. If you think about
FTR at that time, we were kind of just floundering.
There was nothing for us.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
To do, and we had a little chip on our
shoulder for that.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
The Briscoes, you know, the future of Bring of Honor
was uncertain, and so they wanted to secure themselves a
contract as well. And so when you got two sets
of guys who have a chip on their shoulder and
something to prove, usually more often than not. When the
talent is there, magic will come. And that's what happened. Yeah,
(21:59):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Oh, I didn't think it was gonna be something like
it became because there was no there was no plan
going into it, There was no guarantee that it was
even gonna happen. It was just something we all four
decided to push for without ever meeting or really talking about.
Like we just we all knew we wanted to work
with each other, so we started going back and forth
(22:21):
on social media and it just kind of took.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Life on from there.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But again, like going from one to two, two to three,
we didn't know we were going from one to two
and two to three. Like even with the third one
happening the way it happened, we didn't know about that
until Tuesday the week of So, like looking back on
it now, the way it all happened and like timed
up perfectly to happen the way it did. I'm so
(22:48):
happy that it did, and I'm glad that it hopefully
will go.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Down to history like that. But I never would have
thought it going into it. Even the dog Collar match.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
I remember beforehand we were like, this isn't the first
match we've had. We're not main eventing, so there's really
no pressure on us tonight. Let's just let's just, you know,
let's just have fun. And we went out there and
did what we did, and it was the best match
I've ever had in my whole entire life, and so
it just, you know, it was it was very special.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
It was magic.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
And if my career had ended that night after the
dog collar match, I would have been completely satisfying.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was an incredible feud
for sure, and like I said, it goes up there
with you know, the feuds of the Rock and Roll Express,
of Midnight Express, free Birds, and Von Ericks. I mean,
you think about it, and it was. It was a
masterpiece of a feud for sure. I know time is
up for us, so before we let you go, FTR,
is there anything you want to say to the fans
(23:45):
watching or listening to this right now?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Nope, I don't have anything to say to them other
than we're gonna be eleven time world Tag team champions.
Doesn't matter what anybody says on social media or on
any other wrestling show, We're the greatest tag team of
all time and nobody has done what we've done in
uh the last eleven years held the championships, We've had
seven different promoters, ten different championships across seven different promotions.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Tag Team of the Year, Match of the Year. We're
just the best to ever do it. Yeah, Saturday, we
joined Rarefied Air yet again. Three times aw Tag Team Champions.
Only one other team can say that and get your
get your tissues ready, and I don't mean your happy tissues.
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You'll play for all things pro.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Rely and exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlersund
podcast stop.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Being What's up you guys? Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official
wrestling podcast, The Battleground Podcast. It is a e W
full gear week, and man, it is a stacked week
for sure. And joining us are no strangers on this show.
They've been on here plenty of times. And they got
(00:38):
a big match ahead of them this week. And give
it up for FTR joining the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
On guys, and hey, what crowd?
Speaker 5 (00:48):
Crowds all here, Let's.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Get it bigger? Of course.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Uh, you guys have a big match ahead of you
this weekend. You recently earned another shot at those tag
team titles after a wild four way and of course
now you're in that talks of the three p for
the ae W Tag Team champions.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
How does the.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Team of Brodido compare to past teams that you have
faced for those titles.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
I think they're a little more unorthodox than any other
team we've worked with before, wrestled before. I mean, you know,
you talk about the teams we've we've wrestled, you know,
in the past, like the Young Bucks and even Jet
Speed you know who is a newly formed team as well.
They all are well oiled machines. And not to say
(01:34):
that Brodido isn't a well oiled machine. They're just, like
I said, very unorthodox. But for some reason, they have
chemistry and they they they they're working well together. Brody
is very large individual and Bandido maybe the best wrestler
in the world today.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
But putting those two.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
Factors together, I would say, don't equate you to the
greatest tag team of all time.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, they're very different than most tag teams we've ever
faced before, even though we've had history with Brody, who've
never faced this iteration before.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Right Like, it's always been a different style of partner.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
And Bendido hands down as probably the singles male wrestler
of the year at this point, or at least he's
on his way to it, and now he's on top
of the aw tag world too.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
So I mean, you look at what he's done individually.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And now with Brody and their friendship, with their history
and how much chemistry, how well they jailed at such
a short amount of time. And we can speak firsthand
because we had a front row seat for a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
We went thirty minutes of those guys in Glasgow two.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
We had the Triple Threat the next night and or
not the next night but at Forbidden Door, and they
pinned us in that match. Whether it was the legal
guy or not, that's not my place to say it
was not illegal. But those guys are spectacular. With both
of them, Brody is one of the best big men
in the business. I love being in there with him
(03:03):
because he's so physical and that that is what I prefer.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
But Bendido and him together it's a crazy combination. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Absolutely. And when you when you see these tag teams
get thrown together, sometimes you're like, is this really going
to work? Because most of the time it's just kind
of a one off. Here we're done. But it seems
like these guys work. But it's more you have the
advantage because you guys have been a tag team for
way much longer.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
Oh yeah, well, I mean I think we have an
advantage over any tag team in the world, not even
because of because of our relationship and how long we've
been aa team. But I don't know if there's any
other team in the world maybe of all time that
has that studies professional wrestling like us, and that maybe
takes it as seriously as we do, sometimes.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
A little too seriously.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
But on the other side of the coin, you know,
those guys have a lot to have a.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Lot to prove. They want to hold onto the tag
team champion.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
I think a lot of people did think what you
guys may have fought, they were thrown together team, and
I think that they want to prove that they're more
than that because those.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Guys have been friends for for a long time.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
I mean, they may not have been, you know, tag
team partners in a wrestling ring for that amount of time,
but they've known each other for the better part of
a decade. They've worked in Ring of Honor together, they've
worked in Mexico together, and so they've traveled together. So,
you know, as much as I'd like to say FTR
has the advantage, and we absolutely do have an advantage,
(04:32):
it's not the advantage that a lot of the casual
fans may think.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, no matter how long we've been teaming, I've always
thought when we stepped in the ring that we had
the advantage because we are just all around better wrestlers.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
We are smarter, we're more well studied.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We've trained this forever, like this is what we want
to do, and like we've been obsessed with making history
since the moment we became a team.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Like everybody else wants to do certain things that they
find we just wanted to go down in history. Is
the best step or do it?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That's what we've been chasing since day one, and we
have plenty of big match experience at this point. It's
today is the nine year anniversary of Toronto d I
y two out of three falls. We've been doing this
at a high level for a long time. They have to,
but we're always gonna have the advantage if you ask me.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Well, speaking of the history of FTR, Stokey Stokely Hathaway
has joined the ranks over the last year, and the
quote has been you guys have wanted to work with him,
even going back to the previous employer days, and you know,
it's one of those things where you don't necessarily need him,
but then you look at you know, Jimmy Hart with
(05:39):
the Heart Foundation, or Paul Allering with the Legion of
Doom or Road Warriors whatever wherever they were. What from
a talent standpoint, what drew you guys to him, and
then what does he bring to the team, know as
f tr uh.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Yeah, like you, you said that we don't need him,
and that that is that is true to an extent,
But I also don't think that he necessarily needs us either.
I mean, just because he's such a talented human being.
I mean not even in front of the camera, but
behind the camera as well. He's just as charismatic and
justice funny, and I think he knows who he is.
(06:15):
But we wanted we had pitched an idea back in
twenty nineteen and twenty nineteen beginning of twenty twenty to
have him as our manager, and it just didn't pan out.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
And then fast forward to twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
The beginning of twenty twenty two, we had gotten rid
of Tolly and there was a guy who was his
contract was coming up, and his name was Malcolm Vivens
at the time, and I told Tony that I think
he'd be a great guy for us to work with,
and that was the plan when we brought him in.
But fate just had it that the fans took a
liking to us for whatever reason, and we spent the
(06:54):
better part of three years on the opposite side of
the coin with Soakley. Now, I think that he brings
a whole different code of paint to what FTR is,
what they have been.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
What they've represented for so long.
Speaker 6 (07:08):
I also think that we are able to feed off
of his charisma and the energy that he brings. And
I think that this run that we've had so far
is probably one of our most to me at least,
is one of my most fun runs that we've had
because we've been exploring a much deeper character within ourselves
(07:33):
and that's, you know, thanks in.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Part just to Stokely.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, he's such a talented individual and he's so so
multifaceted and that dynamic like the fact that he can
be funny, he can be serious. He knows when to
involve himself or interject, he knows when to tone it down.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
He doesn't take away from what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Like I think his understanding of wrestling as a whole
is what's helped make this work so well for us,
because he knows when it's.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Time for him to beat him and turn it on
and do what he.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Does, and he knows when it's time to let us
do what we do, and we also all know when
it's time for us all to get on the same
page work together. Hey Stokele, we need you to do this,
and he's he's there every time. He's so reliable, he's
so good at it. He understands it almost from a
wrestler's point of view, which is rare with a manager.
But he's he's smart and that makes a world of
(08:24):
difference for us.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
And the fact that he is so entertaining it is
fun for us. It makes this new for us.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
It's something where like it's listening to him talking about
getting no hose, it's all over the place, like I
could not keep it together because his delivery is so
perfect and he's he's so mad when he says it
right right, Like he's just go on all day about
Stoke and how balented he is. But I love what
he brings to what we were doing right now, and
(08:54):
he's added so much to it.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, I think I think that.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
I think the reason that works is because we've had
this philosophy for you know, eleven years now, and that's
there's no selfish ambition. When we talked when we first
started teaming, it wasn't one of the you know, at
the time in the company we were with, it was
more or less two singles guys together and they wanted
this guy wanted to get his stuff in and this
guy wanted to get his stuff in. And when we
(09:19):
first started teaming up, we threw that out of the
window and listened. We said, how can we make each
other look better? And as a unit? And Soapley is
the exact same way as us. He doesn't want to
overshadow or he doesn't want to overshadow us. We don't
want to overshadow him, and we both want to accentuate
the other, the the other characters. And I think that
I think that's what's made it work so far as there's,
(09:41):
like I said, no selfish ambition, and we don't mind
letting him shine and he doesn't mind letting us shine.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You talk about how entertaining he was. I think back
to recently, because my eight year old loves to watch
wrestling with me. I think back to that moment where
he had bro Brody stuck behind the door and Brody
punches the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Whole My eight year old laughed his ass off.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
That was like something out of Adam Sandler movie. I
mean it was absolutely perfection.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
But like you guys said, he bring he brings the
entertainment to where you guys can be serious, and then
he brings it to where, like you said, you're you're
trying not to break on TV, but he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, the perfect he's the perfect balance for us because
we are too serious most of the time, and he
helped bring that lighthearted this out a little bit more
where like I'll say it, we're hilarious. We're probably more
charismatic than anybody else in this this wrestling world, right, we.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Don't show that all the time.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
We take a step back for the rest of the
world to appreciate others.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
But Stokely helped to bring that out of us. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Absolutely, and it's fun to watch it on TV for sure. Now,
one thing that that's awesome is you guys have done
it everywhere. Everywhere you've gone, You've won titles, different promotions,
different style, else, same results every time you win. Right
when you look in the mirror, now, do you ever
think about how the version of FTR in today's society
(11:10):
compares to how you were when you first started.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I do, and I think that we've changed over time.
To an extent, but we always try to stay true
to ourselves, and wrestling in twenty twenty five is still
a lot different than wrestling in twenty fifteen. So we
want to try to give people what they what they deserve,
but we like to do it still on our terms,
(11:37):
and we like to take the people on the ride
that we want to take them on, and not the
other way around, where we're only doing it the way
that people tell us to do. That's, you know, you've
got to listen to the fans at times, but other
times you got to make them think they know what's
going on, and then you take you.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Jerk the rug out from underneath them. And that's what
I think we're always going to.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Try to hold true to is keeping wrestling grounded as
much logic as you can in this world, because there's
not a whole lot of logic in wrestling, So keeping
it grounded in logic and trying to keep the fans guessing,
I think, you know, I think that you know, for
so long, for for a very long time, we were
(12:16):
just trying to do things to make people react, right,
and we were just trying to get noticed and trying
to get to where we are.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Now that's where we wanted to be.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
And I hope this isn't speaking out of turn or
like too much of a pad on the back.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
But now that you know over the last.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Since you know, since twenty twenty two, I would say
that we're finally because we've seen the metrics and everything.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
We're finally over.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
And so I hope that's not speaking out of Turner
being too like egotistical, but we're finally over. So now
you know, we get to I get when we put
matches together. Now it's it's cool to put like perimeters
on the match or like put a what is the
(13:01):
word that I'm looking at, put like a.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh my god, I just talked to my life about
this today business.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
But try to put a goal set, a goal that
maybe other wrestlers aren't doing in their match. You know
a lot of wrestling today, not just from our company,
but from you know, all the companies. They have these
tropes they do right because they know there's going to
be a built in reaction to that, whether it's a
dive or a you know, a you know a certain
(13:29):
spot or whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
I know what that is.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
And so now we try to put these perimeters on
the match and say, okay, well we know that four
matches tonight are going to do this, so let's take
it the other way and see if we can get
an emotional response from the fans instead of a you know,
a built in this is awesome or you know, clap
because someone died over to the top rope. So I
(13:52):
think that's the biggest difference now than when we were before,
and also obviously a hell of a lot older. I
was watching our match this past week and I was like,
how in God's name am I bumping and feeding? That
may be too much inside baseball and feeding. I'm forty
one years old? Why am I doing that? But but
then I remember the direct DEPOSITI over two weeks, and
(14:14):
that's why.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're like, oh, yeah, yeah that remember that, Remember that
that pair of shoes or whatever you know, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
We did in twenty fifteen somehow, Yeah, right, hey, there
you go.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
That's a victory right there, yeap.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So you guys are you know, classificuted, you know, kind
of the old school approach and all that good stuff,
the revival and all that. You know, there's still you know,
there's a new crop of that we're seeing Adam Priest
has popped up on aw programming. Tommy Billington, do you
think that, you know, kind of in this air of
you know, instant video and instant moments and viral and everything,
(14:55):
do you feel it like the old school approach is No.
I intend to kind of do for another revival, kind
of that old school Matt psychology approach that you guys
are kind of known for.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And I think everything is cyclical, like wrestling goes in cycles.
And I do think that people for the past five years,
five six years have been into the the escalating bumps,
the escalating style, the car crash upon car crash, had
dropped upon head dropped style, yep. And I think people
(15:30):
have been refreshed by seeing people scale that back a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And you see, like Zach.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Saber Junior is a guy who does very little to
none of that type stuff, but he's been at the
top of his game and like steadily gaining that momentum
in the past few years to the point where he's
had a banner year for himself the past year. So,
and you mentioned Adam Priest and Tommy Billington, and there's
a couple other guys that they're they're not the norm
(15:57):
for what is going around now, the current younger generation
or style.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I do think that people now are wanting to
see more of what evokes emotion out of them as
as opposed to what he evokes, like the oh shit
out of them disgusting. But yeah, I just think that
now people what to be taken on a ride, like
we said before, as opposed to just seeing people getting
(16:27):
more and more dangerous.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
They're absolutely a you know, I don't necessarily believe in
the or subscribe to the theory of old school and
new school. You know, it's about what works and what
doesn't work, that's it. But but if we are talking
about old school, and if we're going to use that
phrase and use that term, there absolutely is a place
(16:51):
in the world for it today. And those guys have
gotten recognized because they are allowed or they have allowed
themselves to wrestle that way. It's gonna take a lot
of self confidence as a wrestler to do that. I mean,
like I was just saying earlier, it's easy to fall
into the tropes and make the people make noise, even
(17:11):
if it's just the people doing their part of the
show when you step outside of the wrestling box what
the wrestling box is in twenty twenty five, and you have.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Enough enough.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Confidence in your own abilities to say, Okay, I'm gonna
try something different instead of going straight, I'm gonna take
a slight left turn and see where it takes these people.
It may not work that night, you know, or it
may not work the way that you thought, but people
will still remember it because it is a slight left turn.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
But yeah, you gotta.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
I think that that's why the indis maybe aren't as
popular as they have been before, is because every single
person is wrestling the same and there is no there
you know, there is no diversity as far as the
styles go today. But any wrestler's listening, you just gotta
(18:02):
believe in yourself and understand that they're going to be
there for you as long as you put forth the effort.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Absolutely, Well, I know that our time is coming up here,
so I've got just a couple more questions before we
let you go. I know recently there was there was
chats online Tony Kansa that he had interested in building
an AW like affiliated training facility out in Asheville, and
he literally name dropped you and Adam Copeland just wanted
to kind of get an update on that. What's going on?
(18:31):
Is this still a real conversation happening or is the
book kind of closed on that chatter.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
You'd have to ask Adam and Beth on that one.
There's still a little upset after Toronto, So I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Know, Oh, something happened in Toronto.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I don't know where that stands.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
All I know is that that is I don't know
for for cash too, but you know, speaking specifically for me,
training is something that I'm very very very interested in,
something I love doing win and uh, you know, we
did have a few guys and girls come to Asheville
from AW and uh they were doing very well. We
(19:11):
were working with staying Son as well, and uh, you know,
it is something that is an itch that uh, training
will stretch for me and I hope to one day
be able to do that. You know, if it's with AW,
that would be even better. So we'll see right now.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Honestly, especially for us, we do most weeks we do
dynamite and collision and that's you know, four days on
the road or so given at that point. So it's
hard to like and then you count pay per views
or international tours, like we got Nework this week for
Full Gear, then we got Cardiff and everything coming up
(19:49):
in December, so like there's there's no set schedule for
us ever, and it's a lot of weeks where it's
up in the air where you're just not home enough
at all. So it might be easier for us once
we're a little more part time. Also, Yeah, and again,
if Adamcbeth get over this slight misunderstanding in Toronto, maybe
we can get that figured out.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That was you know, it's just an accident.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
It was a misunderstanding. It's you know, I was I
was blinded. Try to stop him, but it's too late.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You know, what accidents happened. Workman's comp will fix that
later down the road, you know. So last question before
we'll let you go, because I mean, we have you
guys here on and when when you think of tag
team wrestling, when you think of feuds, obviously we have
to bring up FTR.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Versus the Brisco.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I mean that feud is up there with you know,
the likes of the Rock and Roll Express versus the
Midnight Express or the Free Birds and the Von Erics.
When you guys started that that feud with him. Did
you think that it was going to be that sort
of magnitude that we're all sitting here putting it up
there with those feuds of the von Erics and the
free Birds and everyone else.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I didn't.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I mean, we had never met those guys, you know,
until we met them, you know, and we had never
been in the ring with them. So obviously, when you've
never been in the ring with someone, that can go
either really good or really bad. And again, I think
that was for guys who who did trust their abilities,
and we didn't have to rush anything, and you know,
(21:20):
we knew we had the opportunity to create something, to
create something special. But I think we were trying to
create something special for ourselves too. If you think about
FTR at that time, we were kind of just floundering.
There was nothing for us.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
To do, and we had a little chip on our
shoulder for that.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
The Briscoes, you know, the future of Bring of Honor
was uncertain, and so they wanted to secure themselves a
contract as well. And so when you got two sets
of guys who have a chip on their shoulder and
something to prove, usually more often than not. When the
talent is there, magic will come. And that's what happened. Yeah,
(21:59):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Oh, I didn't think it was gonna be something like
it became because there was no there was no plan
going into it, There was no guarantee that it was
even gonna happen. It was just something we all four
decided to push for without ever meeting or really talking about.
Like we just we all knew we wanted to work
with each other, so we started going back and forth
(22:21):
on social media and it just kind of took.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Life on from there.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
But again, like going from one to two, two to three,
we didn't know we were going from one to two
and two to three. Like even with the third one
happening the way it happened, we didn't know about that
until Tuesday the week of So, like looking back on
it now, the way it all happened and like timed
up perfectly to happen the way it did. I'm so
(22:48):
happy that it did, and I'm glad that it hopefully
will go.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Down to history like that. But I never would have
thought it going into it. Even the dog Collar match.
Speaker 6 (22:57):
I remember beforehand we were like, this isn't the first
match we've had. We're not main eventing, so there's really
no pressure on us tonight. Let's just let's just, you know,
let's just have fun. And we went out there and
did what we did, and it was the best match
I've ever had in my whole entire life, and so
it just, you know, it was it was very special.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
It was magic.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
And if my career had ended that night after the
dog collar match, I would have been completely satisfying.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was an incredible feud
for sure, and like I said, it goes up there
with you know, the feuds of the Rock and Roll Express,
of Midnight Express, free Birds, and Von Ericks. I mean,
you think about it, and it was. It was a
masterpiece of a feud for sure. I know time is
up for us, so before we let you go, FTR,
is there anything you want to say to the fans
(23:45):
watching or listening to this right now?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Nope, I don't have anything to say to them other
than we're gonna be eleven time world Tag team champions.
Doesn't matter what anybody says on social media or on
any other wrestling show, We're the greatest tag team of
all time and nobody has done what we've done in
uh the last eleven years held the championships, We've had
seven different promoters, ten different championships across seven different promotions.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Tag Team of the Year, Match of the Year. We're
just the best to ever do it. Yeah, Saturday, we
joined Rarefied Air yet again. Three times aw Tag Team Champions.
Only one other team can say that and get your
get your tissues ready, and I don't mean your happy tissues.
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