FTR or Forever The Revival or F**k The Revival if your name is Matt or Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks, is a tag team that I ABSOLUTELY love. Other than The New Day, they are my favourite tag team of all time. Yes, even better than the other GOAT, The Basham Brothers.
My appreciation for the group with no flips just fists grew after being in a YouTube Short rabbit hole of watching a lot of FTR’s previous work and thankfully not red pill “alpha male” podcast clips unless it’s the real alpha male in Monty Brown, of course.
Now, I have a confession to make. I wasn’t always a fan of FTR or rather not a fan of them at first. It was something, just something that didn’t click with me after seeing them as a tag team all the way back in the summer of 2015.
Maybe it’s how their old name “The Mechanics” sounded like a WWE main roster name change of The Revival like The War Raiders as “The Viking Experience”? However, based on my earlier statement, you would probably guess that something eventually clicked with me for FTR (yea, no sh*t my G) and it was one particular match that everyone loved.
It was their match with DIY at NXT Takeover Toronto for the tag team titles in a two out three falls match (what? You thought I was referring to their match with the VaudVillians? Pfft).
Why did I finally understand their persona and what they were going with it? The answer isn’t too complex; it is how unique they represented themselves. What do I mean by that? Well, both Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood represent the old school (and no, not one of The Undertaker’s signature moves).
In other words, if FTR as a duo was a meme, they would be the “regret modernity, embrace traditional” in all of the best possible ways.
I became a fan of pro wrestling around 2007 so I unfortunately didn’t initially have much appreciation for not only the so-called “old school” nature of the business but also tag team action because WWE was and still isn’t putting any priority on the tag team division and tag team wrestling as a whole so much so that they left Titan Towers because of it.
And anytime I got done watching The Young Bucks vs FTR at Full Gear 2020 for the same amount of times as sequels to the Fast And Furious Franchise (aka too many), it motivated me to slap my younger self for even thinking tag team wrestling isn’t great and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
So, to a young guy like me, it came across as uncommon and new but to an old head, it came across familiar and a tribute to those that came before due to the fact that they freaking love this industry and they’re students of the game.
FTR made sure that they’ll keep things grounded and make a simple move into something spectacular. To me, what they showcase is the love, respect and appreciation they have for professional wrestling and why they’re proud of being called “professional wrestlers”.
They’re one of those people where after they see someone with a Bret Hart shirt, they’ll instantly give them a high five or when someone says wrestling is fake, they’ll pull a David Arquette from Ready To Rumble and say, “WRESTLING IS NOT FAKE!”
They also represent the constant incentive to succeed which is inspiring especially since they are days when I feel like I’m not good enough and I should quit (you know, imposter syndrome).
Dax Harwood revealed his struggles and how he had to work 3 jobs to pay for his college tuition (which, by the way, no one should ever go through that just for getting an education) while training to become a pro wrestler in an interview with Cameron Hawkins of The Ringer is an aspect that every single person can relate to when they, to quote Drake, “started from the bottom”.
On and all, FTR is more than just a name for two fantastic performers. It’s a name which represents the relatability of professional wrestling. It’s a name which conveys that there’s nothing wrong with being a professional wrestling fan and holding that fandom with pride. It’s a name which respects what came before and are “students of the game”.
Most importantly, it’s a name that when you think of them, you think of one of the coolest finishers in wrestling aka Big Rig (Goodnight Express).
