The Revival Detail Their WWE Releases To Chris Jericho

It’s a major Wednesday in the wrestling world as The Revival speak for the first time since being granted their WWE releases and they tell their story to none other than Chris Jericho.

On the latest edition of the Talk is Jericho podcast, both the newly-named Revolt members in Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler joined Le Champion in detailing the extensive process for the two finally being granted their WWE releases back in April.

It was somewhere around mid-January of 2019 when Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler initially requested their releases from WWE. The two made the request while they were in their feud with Lucha House Party.

“We had fun with them,” said Cash. “Like I enjoy working them cause they do cool stuff and I like being a base for like a talented high-flying babyface. I enjoy that,” he said.

A little bit before they were told that they were going to be given a run with The WWE RAW Tag Team Titles, but both Dax and Cash felt like asking for their releases on the upswing would make more sense as they wanted to show they aren’t bitter about being jobbed out. That way people know that it isn’t just about them, but the tag team division as a whole. The plan was to get through the last Christmas loop because it’s fun and you make good money.

“15 months almost to the day that we finally got the release. It’s been a very tense back and forth,” he added.

They were initially told that they were granted their release by management. They then went to the talent relations office and were told the same thing. Right after that meeting, somehow everybody knew that they asked for the releases.

“Everyone knew that we asked for it. We were getting texts from everybody,” Harwood said. “This is kind of what I wanted to address, right after that is whenever people started saying that we were complaining. Like we were getting tagged a lot on Twitter that we were just complaining and being crybabies but I dare you to ask any of our coworkers if we ever complained.”

Hardwood adds, “Last year in 2019 we were booked more than any other talent on that roster so I would think if all we did was complain, they would have stopped booking us, but man, we worked our ass off in 2019 because we wanted, not just us, but we wanted the tag division to be something and we wanted to show Vince that tag team wrestling could be something and it just never panned out like that.”

Jericho asks Harwood and Wheeler if WWE mentioning that they were getting the tag titles on and that they were going to put the tag division over as a whole, if that was just a stroke by management or if the two saw some truth there.

“I think it was a stroke,” said Harwood, “and Dan even said to them, he said ‘We don’t want the belts we just want you to put focus on the tag team division. Doesn’t matter who it is or who it’s with, or who you put the belts on, we just want the tag team division to mean something, that way we can all make more money.’ I think we knew underneath it all that there was never going to be a real push for real tag teams for whatever reason, I don’t know what it is, but if you are in the tag team division and you’re two singles guys thrown together you got a much better chance of being featured than you do if you’re a standard tag team that look the same, that work the same. We knew that there was never going to be a big focus on the tag team division, that’s why we worked so hard through 2019 to try make it a focus.”

Wheeler makes note that he believes that the particular individual they spoke with regarding their releases genuinely believed that things were going to turn around for the tag division and there would soon be a structural re-shift.

“I’m completely open here, I think when we spoke to the office, we spoke to one guy in particular that has always been very open with us and I feel like in his heart maybe he believed it. I think he really thought that things were going to change, that power would shift and there would be more things delegated out to different people and things wouldn’t be so reliant on just one guy. I think honestly he believed it and when he told us that things were going to change at the time, I think he meant it and I think he was very hopeful,” said Wheeler, who makes note they were still in gear right after the match when they requested their release.

“We won the match, we came to the back, we walked straight to Gorilla and we said, ‘Hey, can we talk to you real quick?’ And we walked out of Gorilla and we said, ‘We’re not happy here, we don’t think the tag team division is ever going to be featured or respected and we’d like our releases,’ So I remember that.”

Wheeler recites what he said to the person in power after it was pitched that The Revival would be receiving the belts.

“‘I don’t want the tag titles, I want actual solid proof that the tag team division as a whole will get TV time and respect and you’ll invest promo time and segment time and character development into all these guys or otherwise it means nothing,'” said Wheeler. “‘Look if things change, we will glady re-sign. Like we don’t want to leave, but if things don’t change we see no point in us staying because we want to make tag team wrestling mean something and if it’s not going to happen there’s no point in us being here just collecting a paycheck.'”

Later on, Harwood tells Jericho their biggest reason for leaving was all because of having the aspirations to build a tag team legacy.

“I think that was our biggest factor as far as leaving was that tag team wrestling was featured everywhere except for WWE and we wanted to be a part of that because we could sit back and we could have no legacy, aside from our NXT stuff, we could have no legacy in the history of wrestling or we could go out and make history and I think that was our biggest factor in leaving is that we could go out and prove to everyone that we’re the absolute best tag team on this planet that’s as good as we are, that’s as fluid as we are and has the one goal, the one common goal in mind, and that’s to be the best.”

Cash does state that they have been pitched offers from different promotions that do interest him, but it’s also important for both of them to take some time off to realign and reassess as it’s healthy for their relationship to wrestling.

“We got some offers from multiple places that obviously are very interesting to us and we’re not going to jump to any conclusions. We just got out of a really long-term relationship. We’re not looking for a rebound right off the bat. We don’t want to jump from one situation to another without really weighing all the pros and cons and taking our time and seeing what’s out there because wrestling right now is maybe more exciting for wrestlers than it’s ever been as far as options and places and being in control of your own destiny really.”

Dax adds onto that:

“It’s a good thing that we can take a few months away from the business because when you get out of one relationship that didn’t go the way that you wanted to you move onto the next one and you might not treat that relationship the best way that it should be treated and I feel that same way with wrestling is what if we moved right onto another company and we didn’t personally and professionally mesh with some of the tag teams. It wouldn’t be as good because we are both strong-minded individuals and we’re very passionate about what we do so we’re able to take a second an reevaluate everything.”

(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)

There sure is a lot more to go through on what’s to be a very popular episode of Talk Is Jericho, all of which you can hear below: