# Dax Harwood

David Michael Harwood (born June 30, 1984) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Dax Harwood or Dax The Axe. Teamed with Cash Wheeler as FTR, Harwood is a two-time AEW World Tag Team Champion. He also makes appearances in their sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as partner promotions Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he and Wheeler have won those promotions' respective tag team championships once each.
Harwood was previously known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Scott Dawson. In WWE he and Wheeler (then known as Dash Wilder) were known as The Revival, and held the Raw (twice), SmackDown and NXT Tag Team Championship (twice), making them the first ever WWE Tag Team Triple Crown winners, and jointly held the WWE 24/7 Championship along with Wheeler.

## Professional wrestling career
### Independent circuit (2004–2012)

Harwood made his professional wrestling debut in 2004. He wrestled for a variety of independent promotions as KC McKnight, most notably for CWF Mid-Atlantic, AWA Superstars of Wrestling and a number of NWA-affiliated organizations including NWA Anarchy and Pro Wrestling Zero1. In 2010, he made an appearance for Ring of Honor (ROH) in a dark match prior to ROH The Big Bang!. He also wrestled at various North Carolina independents including United Professional Wrestling Association in Wilmington, working with the likes of Zane and Dave Dawson, Daniel Messina, Charlie Dreamer, Marcus Shields, etc.

### WWE (2012–2020)
#### Early NXT appearances (2012–2014)

Harwood signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center, taking the ring name Scott Dawson. He made his television debut on March 7, 2013 episode of NXT, teaming with Judas Devlin in a two-on-one handicap loss to Adrian Neville. Dawson made a further appearance in an enhancement role on April 10 episode of NXT, in a six-man tag-team defeat against The Shield.
In May 2013, Dawson formed a tag-team with Garrett Dylan, with the two managed by Sylvester Lefort. On June 26 episode of NXT Dawson and Dylan lost a number one contender's match for the NXT Tag Team Championship to Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno. The team disbanded shortly afterwards when Dylan was released from the company. Following Dylan's release, Dawson initially worked as a singles competitor with little success and then formed a tag-team with Alexander Rusev, who was also being managed by Lefort. Rusev and Dawson participated unsuccessfully in a contendership battle royal for the NXT Tag Team Championship on September 12 episode of NXT. Their alliance ended when Rusev turned on Lefort in favor of being managed by Lana, and shortly afterwards Dawson suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament which ruled him out of action for several months.

#### The Revival (2014–2020)

On his return from injury, Dawson formed a team with Dash Wilder, with the two performing extensively at live events under the name The Mechanics. The duo made their debut on July 31, 2014 episode of NXT, losing to the team of Bull Dempsey and Mojo Rawley. The duo made only one further televised appearance in 2014, losing to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady on October 23 episode of NXT, but continued to wrestle extensively at house shows. On the June 10, 2015 episode of NXT, Dawson faced Samoa Joe in a losing effort during the show's main event.
Dawson and Wilder's team resurfaced and picked up their first televised win on the July 29, 2015 episode of NXT, defeating Amore and Cassady. The duo were involved in an 8-man tag-team match that was taped prior to NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. At NXT TakeOver: Respect, Dawson and Wilder were defeated in the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic by eventual winners Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe. On the October 21 episode of NXT, The Mechanics' ring name was changed to Dash and Dawson. On the November 11 episode of NXT, Dawson and Wilder defeated the Vaudevillains to win the NXT Tag Team Championship. They subsequently defended the titles against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady at NXT TakeOver: London. Beginning in February 2016, the duo began performing under the team name The Revival. Dawson made his WWE main roster debut alongside Wilder at Roadblock, once again defending their NXT Tag Team Championships against Amore and Cassady. On April 1 at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, The Revival lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) but the two won back the titles from American Alpha two months later at NXT TakeOver: The End. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, The Revival retained the titles against Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. On November 19, 2016 at NXT TakeOver: Toronto The Revival lost the tag team titles in a two out of three falls match to #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano). They failed in their attempt at winning back the titles at NXT TakeOver: Orlando on April 1, 2017; in a triple threat tag team elimination match.
On the Raw after WrestleMania 33 April 3 episode of Raw, The Revival answered an open challenge issued by The New Day. The Revival defeated The New Day, and afterwards attacked Kofi Kingston, who was not participating in the match. The team was on hiatus due to Wilder's injury. Wilder returned seven weeks later on the May 22, 2017 episode of Raw, walking backstage during the sneak attack on Enzo Amore, Big Cass would later accuse both Wilder and Dawson as the attackers, but they denied this. Two weeks later, on the Raw after Extreme Rules, The Revival also denied their involvement during the sneak attack on Cass, bringing out another suspect in Big Show.
The June 19, 2017 episode of Raw revealed that The Revival had nothing to do with the attack and that Cass was never attacked. Corey Graves finally came to the conclusion that Cass was indeed the culprit behind Enzo's sneak attack after The Revival stated their alibi of being innocent. Wilder returned to in ring competition on the June 26 taping of Main Event aired on June 30, teaming with Dawson to defeat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows by pinfall, Dawson would have his first pinfall loss to Kalisto the following week.
On August 7, 2017, WWE announced that over the weekend of August 5–6 at a live event in Canada, Dawson suffered an injury to his right bicep in a match against Cesaro and Sheamus. He was out of action for 5 to 6 months. Dawson returned on the December 18 episode of Raw with Wilder to defeat Heath Slater and Rhyno. The Revival participated in the Raw Tag Team Eliminator tournament to crown new champions, but lost in the semi-finals to Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. At SummerSlam 2018 Pre-show, The Revival lost to Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel in an attempt to become the new Raw Tag Team champions. At Survivor Series, they were part of Team Raw, but lost to Team SmackDown in the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match.
Following this they began a feud against Lucha House Party and suffered various losses in handicap matches. On the December 17, 2018 episode of Raw, they defeated Lucha House Party, The B-Team and AOP in a Fatal 4-Way Match receiving a title shot for the Raw Tag Team Titles. During the next two Raw episodes they challenged Bobby Roode and Chad Gable for the titles but Dawson and Wilder were unsuccessful to win the matches in controversial fashion.
Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that the duo asked for their release from their WWE contracts following their match against Lucha House Party on the January 14, 2019 episode of Raw. On the February 11, 2019 episode of Raw, Dawson and Wilder defeated the team of Roode and Gable to win the Raw Tag Team Championships. They lost their titles at WrestleMania 35 to the team of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. On the August 12, 2019 during a scheduled tag team match at Raw episode post-SummerSlam in which The Revival were facing Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik, with Kalisto), R-Truth ran out from backstage, being chased by several wrestlers. The match was called off and The Revival performed a "Hart Attack" on Truth and simultaneously pinned him to become the first co-champions of the 24/7 Championship. Moments later, R-Truth pinned Dawson, with the help of Carmella, and regained the title. The Revival began to align themselves with Randy Orton in a feud against The New Day. On September 15 at Clash of Champions, The Revival defeated Xavier Woods and Big E for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, making them the first team to hold the Raw Tag Team Championship, SmackDown Tag Team Championship, and NXT Tag Team Championship. The Revival was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2019 WWE Draft. On April 10, 2020, both Dawson and his tag team partner Dash Wilder were released from their WWE contracts.

### All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2020–present)

On the May 27, 2020 episode of Dynamite, Dax Harwood (Dawson) and Cash Wheeler (Wilder) made their All Elite Wrestling debut as FTR, saving The Young Bucks from an attack by The Butcher and The Blade thus establishing themselves as babyfaces in the process. They made their in-ring debut on the June 10 episode of Dynamite, where they defeated The Butcher and The Blade. During the following weeks, FTR had interactions with The Young Bucks and the AEW World Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, including a match at Fyter Fest where FTR and The Young Bucks were defeated by The Lucha Bros and The Butcher and The Blade in an eight-man tag team match. In July 2020, after appearing on AEW television for two months without signing contracts, Harwood and Wheeler signed multi-year contracts with AEW.
On the August 12 episode of Dynamite, FTR hosted Tag Team Appreciation Night where they invited Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard and The Rock 'n' Roll Express to the show. However, after a scuffle between Tully Blanchard and Ricky Morton, FTR attacked Rock 'n' Roll Express thus turning heel in the process. The following week, FTR recruited Blanchard as their manager as they defeated Private Party. On the August 27 episode of Dynamite, FTR defeated The Natural Nightmares, Best Friends and The Young Bucks in a Gauntlet match to earn an AEW World Tag Team Championship match at All Out. At All Out, they defeated Omega and Page to capture the titles, making them the first team to have held tag team titles in both AEW and WWE.
On September 16, 2020, FTR defeated Jurassic Express members Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy in a non-title match following interference from Blanchard. On September 30, 2020, FTR successfully defended their tag team titles on Dynamite against SCU members Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. On October 7, 2020, FTR retained their titles after defeating Hybrid2. On October 14, 2020, they again successfully defended their tag team titles, this time against Best Friends. On November 7, 2020 at Full Gear, FTR lost their titles to The Young Bucks in a match which saw manager Tully Blanchard banned from ringside.
On the March 10, 2021 episode of Dynamite, FTR and Blanchard attacked The Inner Circle along with MJF, Wardlow, and Shawn Spears, with their new group being named The Pinnacle. On the October 16 special episode of Dynamite, FTR - disguised as luchadors called Las Super Ranas (The Super Frogs) - defeated The Lucha Brothers to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. After The Pinnacle dissolved FTR turned face, after siding with MJF's rival CM Punk.
FTR made a surprise appearance at ROH Final Battle, attacking the newly-crowned ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers and setting up a match between the two teams, which took place at Supercard of Honor XV. FTR won the match and became ROH World Tag Team Champions for the first time, and with their AAA Tag Team Titles, became double champions. On June 26, 2022, FTR added the IWGP Tag Team Championship from New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) when they won a Three-way Winner Takes All tag team match against IWGP Champions United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta) at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, making them triple champions (AAA, ROH, IWGP). At Death Before Dishonor, FTR defended their ROH Tag Team Championships against The Briscoes, in a two out of three falls match. FTR lost the ROH titles at Final Battle to The Briscoes in a Dog Collar match, and the AAA titles to Dralistico and Dragon Lee at AAA Noche de Campeones.
After their return at Revolution, FTR defeated The Gunns, on the April 5 edition of Dynamite to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships for the second time. FTR would go on to successfully defend their titles against various teams such as Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett at Double or Nothing, The Young Bucks at All In, and Aussie Open at WrestleDream. FTR lost the titles to Big Bill and Ricky Starks on the October 7 episode of Collision.
Going into 2024, FTR would feud with Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli of the Blackpool Combat Club, with Moxley and Castagnoli defeating FTR at the Revolution event in March. In April 2024, FTR would participate in a tournament to determine the next AEW World Tag Team Champions. They lost to The Young Bucks in a ladder match in the finals at Dynasty. FTR would go to feud with The Young Bucks from the rest of the summer facing them in May at Double or Nothing in an Anarchy in the Arena match, and in August at All In in a three-way tag team match for the tag titles, also involving The Acclaimed, both ended in defeat for FTR. In late 2024, FTR once again began feud with the Blackpool Combat Club, now known as the Death Riders. On December 28 at Worlds End, FTR along with Cope appeared after the main event and took out the Death Riders. The trio of FTR and Cope were named "Rated FTR".

### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2022–2023)

After winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, FTR made their first appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, at Music City Mayhem, where they teamed with Alex Zayne, in a losing effort to United Empire's, Aussie Open and T. J. Perkins. After the match, Aussie Open challenged FTR to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championships. FTR made their first IWGP Tag Team Championship defense on night one of Royal Quest II, defeating Aussie Open in the main event. On January 4, 2023 at Wrestle Kingdom 17, FTR lost the IWGP Tag Team Championships to Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI), ending their reign at 192 days.

## Other media

Harwood made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K17, and has since appeared in WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K20.

## Personal life

Harwood has been married to Maria Nickopoulos since 2012. Together, they have a daughter, Finley Gray (born 2014). He played college football at East Carolina University before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and getting a degree in business communication. His family's home in Whiteville, North Carolina, was severely damaged by Hurricane Florence.
Harwood stated in a May 2020 interview that, out of all his matches up to this point in time, his all-time favorite was a two-out-of-three falls match between The Revival and American Alpha which took place during a live event, while his favorite on-screen match was The Revival's two-out-of-three falls match against DIY at NXT TakeOver: Toronto in 2016. He said: "In WWE, that'll be our legacy. I'm very very proud of that match." In a November 7, 2020 interview, Harwood described FTR's upcoming match with The Young Bucks at Full Gear as a "dream match". He added: "When you go around calling yourself the best tag team of the generation, you cannot get too much more pressure than that. So, this match, to a lot of people, it is a dream match and it is a match we are excited about." On November 11, 2020, four days after Full Gear, Harwood released a statement on his Twitter page expressing praise for this match with the Young Bucks and hoped for a rematch. On April 4, 2022, Harwood stated on Twitter that their match with The Briscoe Brothers at Supercard of Honor XV was the best match of FTR's career, also describing it as "their masterpiece".

## Championships and accomplishments

* All Elite Wrestling
** AEW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Cash Wheeler
* The Baltimore Sun
** WWE Tag Team of the Year (2016) – with Dash Wilder
* ESPN
** Tag Team of the Year (2023 – with Cash Wheeler)
* Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
** AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Cash Wheeler
* New Japan Pro Wrestling
** IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Cash Wheeler
* Pro Wrestling Illustrated
** Tag Team of the Year (2022) with Cash Wheeler
** Ranked No. 103 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2019
* Ring of Honor
** ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Cash Wheeler
* Sports Illustrated
** Ranked No. 8 of the top 10 wrestlers in 2022
* WWE
** WWE 24/7 Championship (1 time) – with Dash Wilder
** WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Dash Wilder
** WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dash Wilder
** NXT Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Dash Wilder
** First WWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champions – with Dash Wilder
** NXT Year-End Award (2 times)
*** Match of the Year (2016) – with Dash Wilder vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) in a two-out-of-three falls match for the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT TakeOver: Toronto
*** Tag Team of the Year (2016) – with Dash Wilder
* Wrestling Observer Newsletter
** Feud of the Year (2022) vs. The Briscoes
** Tag Team of the Year (2022, 2023)