FTR has explained the importance of AEW coming to Asheville for the first show of 2025.
Dax Harwood had previously discussed the significance of AEW coming to Asheville for their Max premiere episode on January 1. He had revealed that it was the first entertainment show coming to the city following the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene and that they’ll be donating a portion of the show’s revenue to relief efforts.
The duo of Dax and Cash were asked about the show coming to their locality during the post Worlds End media scrum. Harwood first revealed that they had initially reached out to Tony Khan with the idea of doing a live event but the AEW President decided to bring one of their biggest TV shows there instead:
“The initial plan was not to be in Asheville, right? But we, us three, met at our wrestling school, and we said, ‘Okay, what can we do to bring some hope and some joy to Asheville?’ And we had the idea of maybe doing like a live event in Asheville. Talking to Tony, and having some of the guys come out and just raising money. And Tony said, ‘I’ll do you one better. Why don’t we do Dynamite in Asheville?'”
After Adam Copeland made his surprise return to close the latest AEW PPV, the company has confirmed that the trio known as Rated-FTR will be facing the Death Riders in a six men tag match at the upcoming Dynamite episode. Cash Wheeler mentioned that there was a time he thought he’d never get to share the ring with Copeland at all, but now they’ll be teaming at such a big night in their hometown:
“I never could have imagined that if it was going to happen, that the first time we ever as a trio stepped in the ring together for a match was going to be in Asheville, That’s how I would have booked it as a 15-year-old kid. And it never would have happened. But it is happening, and it’s for the best possible reason.
It’s so we can raise money for people that lost everything. It’s to raise awareness of people that are still going through this three months later. A lot of the world’s moved on and kind of forgotten about that. And you can’t when you drive through it, and you see the destruction every day, and you see the debris. You see the tents, like it’s communities of tents camping out by a river where homes used to be because hundreds of homes were washed away.
And it’s winter, it’s the coldest time of year, and these people are living in tents. It’s heartbreaking. So to have a boss who wants to bring awareness to that, and bring his biggest show ever to that, the first one ever, simulcast on max, and the first one of the new TV rights deal. It’s going to be in Asheville and it’s going to be Rated-FTR. That’s amazing to me. That’s the kind of stuff that I do this for.”
