Former WWE star recalls the 'problem' Vince McMahon noticed in them
Former WWE Superstar Scott Dawson, aka Dax Harwood, has recalled an interaction with Vince McMahon where the latter pointed out a problem with The Revival (aka FTR).
Since getting released from WWE in 2019, FTR has found its way to All Elite Wrestling and has held multiple tag titles. Harwood is also a good singles competitor, defeating his tag team partner Cash Wheeler (Dash Wilder) in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, taking AEW Champion CM Punk to the limit, and battling Will Ospreay on this week's Dynamite.
While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Dax discussed being accompanied to the ring by Bret Hart. Being a massive fan of The Hitman growing up, the moment certainly meant a lot to the AEW star.
Then Harwood recalled a comment Vince McMahon made during the team's time in WWE. The CEO referred to them as "just professional wrestlers." Now, standing next to Bret after all those years, the FTR member was happy to be a "great professional wrestler."
“It was from a night we wrestled in WWE, and waiting in Gorilla for us after the match was Vince McMahon. He had his hands in his pockets and said to us, ‘Everyone says you’re the next great tag team. But you know what I see? The problem with you guys is you’re just professional wrestlers.’ That night in the ring, standing next to Bret, I thought to myself, ‘Damn right, I’m a professional wrestler. I’m a great professional wrestler, and look at where my life is right now.’”
Bret Hart managed FTR tonight. https://t.co/PkC4ImQgDs
Vince's comments could imply that he didn't think the duo had the mic skills or crowd-pulling capacity like some popular superstars. However, FTR has proven its worth and is considered among one of the top tag teams in the world.
Why doesn't Vince McMahon like the word "wrestling"?
In March, the WWE Chairman sat down with SmackDown commentator Pat McAfee and finally disclosed why he didn't like the word 'wrestling.'
Vince stated that he wanted WWE to differentiate itself from its competition. McMahon's vision for the company was to be its own thing, rather than just another wrestling company.
"There's always been wrestling, I wanted to separate us from everybody else. And my dad wasn't a part of the, well he was part of the NWA, but he had his own branding. It was World Wide Wrestling Federation, many many years ago... And at the time when I bought my dad's business, he would've never sold it to me if he knew what I was gonna do. It's like — separate yourself, and be who you wanna be, and especially the brand, it's like, it's WWE. It was WWF, which is another story."
"There has always been wrestling.. I wanted to separate us from everybody else"
@VinceMcMahon on the change from WWF to @WWE
#PMSLive https://t.co/jma0cxSx9k
Apart from wrestling, Vince McMahon has several terms that have been banned from WWE. Most recently, WWE stopped using the phrase pay-per-view and is now referring to their larger shows as "premium live events." You can check out the latest list of banned words in WWE here.