FTR appeared on the latest edition of Busted Open Radio to discuss a number of topics, including their run in WWE. As you might expect, they didn't shy away from venting some of the frustrations which led to them ultimately walking away from the company where they made a name for themselves as one of the world's greatest tag teams.
"Obviously, in the WWE we had a lot to be thankful for. We both felt like if we stayed in the WWE that we would just be spinning our wheels. There is so much more I want to give back to professional wrestling. I don’t want to just sit back and relax. I don’t want to rest on any laurels or anything like that. We want to leave a mark and we want to leave a legacy in professional wrestling, and obviously, on top of that, we want to make money too," they explained. "With AEW and Tony Khan, they provided us the opportunity to do both and for the legacy we want to leave for wrestling. We want to do wrestling proud and I think this is the best opportunity to do wrestling proud."
They were also asked about whether they intend using the Shatter Machine as their finish moving forward, or if it's only because Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard are also part of the company right now.
"The shatter machine, we have to, well we don’t have to, but we enjoy calling it the goodnight express, is a move we took from another great tag team you may have heard of. We incorporated that and put our own little spin on it. But, going to AEW with the spike piledriver, that’s something we always wanted to use in WWE. We even talked to Hunter about it and he said no. We asked other people. We asked Vince about it and they obviously didn’t want to use the spike piledriver at all."
"We came to AEW and we started incorporating the spike piledriver just almost as a restart for us. It is something we want to incorporate into our matches. But, for the shatter machine, no one has ever kicked out of it. We learned that from another great tag team that had the same kind of finisher with the same kind of premise. No one ever kicked out of it. We just want to take the spike piledriver and utilize it to its fullest extent."
It's not surprising that WWE didn't allow the use of a piledriver (only The Undertaker seems to get to do that), but FTR definitely sound happier now they're no longer part of the company.
What the future holds in store for them remains to be seen, though, especially as it's thought they've only signed relatively short-term deals with All Elite Wrestling.
We'll keep you updated.