WWE Hall of Famer & Senior Vice President of Live Events “Road Dogg” Brian James has responded to recent comments made by AEW star Dax Harwood of FTR.
Back in December, Harwood gave an interview to promote his new “FTR” podcast and during that show he gave his thoughts on James, detailing some heat they had in WWE, and saying he doesn’t know how much respect he has for the former DX member. Harwood then addressed the real-life heat with James during the premiere episode of the “FTR” podcast, saying he thinks James hasn’t liked him from day one. Harwood also touched on other issues they had in WWE, and on social media.
Now James has released a YouTube-exclusive edition of his “Oh, You Didn’t Know” podcast to address the recent comments made by Harwood.
James commented on Harwood’s claim that he has never liked the FTR member, and Harwood’s comments on what happened at WWE NXT when preparing for a match with American Alpha.
“It’s not that I didn’t like him the day I met him, it’s that he rubbed me the wrong way,” James said. “And I don’t know whether it was something he did or something that is on me. And if it’s on me, I’m in a place in my life where I’m trying to correct those, you know character defects, so if that’s on me, I’ll accept that. But he rubbed me the wrong way since day one. I didn’t have preconceived notions. This was after our first interaction where what I saw and what I heard was exactly what I just saw and heard there, I, I, I, I.
“I was telling Gable. I was telling Jason Jordan. I was telling everybody what to do and Road Dogg came over and had an idea and I brushed him off and acted like I knew better. That’s what happened, I mean, he just repeated it. So, look, if I was salty that day and that rubbed me the wrong way and I went over and said something negative about him, I could see that happening. 100%. I can see that happening like with me and him and with a hundred other people the same way, somebody rubbed you the wrong way, you go tell your friends, right.”
James also addressed the claim that he supposedly buried Harwood to a high-ranking WWE official, saying Harwood thought he knew everything and would never try to learn.
“Well, look, I understand you having reservations about me, but in our short brief, first time interaction, you showed me that you knew better not only to me but to all of your teammates and all your opponents and the referee’s and everybody, you knew, you knew it all and nobody could tell you anything. So, that was my first take, that’s what I relayed to somebody,” James said.
James then addressed how Harwood brought up the tweet where Harwood knocked the idea of The Revival debuting on SmackDown at a time when fans were heavily speculating on this happening, and how James said Harwood would never make it to the main roster. This was when James was working on the SmackDown writing team. In the new podcast, James commented on if he was in his feelings over Harwood ripping the SmackDown Tag Team Gauntlet, and if he threatened to make sure Harwood never succeeded on the main roster.
“Look, this is one part where I think he got it right,” James admitted. “I shouldn’t be on Twitter responding to people like that. I probably shouldn’t be on here responding to Dax like that, to be quite honest with you, but I am because he said something and I can say something back, I guess. It’s not that I don’t like you and I didn’t like you from day one. You rubbed me the wrong way, dude and first time’s a charm or whatever the old saying is. I just don’t know what to tell you, like, yeah, we had this Twitter thing, you were in developmental wanting to come up to the main roster. And, heel or no heel, I don’t care if you’re in character during this. You said, all this is stupid, you’re burying the product that you represent, but you don’t represent it yet because you’re not there yet. I could have never stopped you from making it, thank you for thinking I have that much power, but I could never stop you from making the main roster.
“You made it to the main roster, you just didn’t make it on the main roster, so I don’t know what else we need to say. You and I just disagree and I think to be quite honest, Dax, if we sat down and had dinner, we would agree way more than we disagree on. We started off on the wrong foot and half of that is on me and I’ll accept that half. But if half of it is on you, are you willing to accept yours? We started off on the wrong foot and we ain’t got on the right one yet. I’m willing to put that past behind me, for sure. But as far as the Raw 25 thing goes, I’m sorry, I really am, too. I didn’t thank you because I don’t feel like that’s like me, but I also at the same time thought like, well, do you need that? You know what you did. You went out there and you did what you were supposed to do and you did it really well. I didn’t know I needed to thank you and say how great you are in order to get your respect as a human being.”
James continued and apologized to Harwood for not thanking him before. He thanked Harwood and went on to suggest they discuss the situation man-to-man on their respective podcast, as a way to “heal the world” and move forward.
“But I do apologize for not thanking you and I thank you now, publicly for doing that for us,” James said. “But don’t act like you’re above that because you were in the ring with a bunch of Hall of Famers, man, and I know you don’t like me, but I was in the ring and I’m a Hall of Famer and I was one of those guys and I’m sorry if that offends you or I don’t respect the mat enough for you, but I got a different idea of pro wrestling than you do and mine’s the one that makes a bunch of money and your’s is the one that pleases all the boys. I don’t know, poop in one hand and wishing with the other, but we can get past this, we just can’t talk about politics or wrestling together. Are we going to let this little thing holds us back from, I don’t know, I would love to be on your podcast. I’d love to have you on my podcast. I think this is an invitation to heal the world, to start with the man in the mirror. And I’m damn sure willing to look at me, are you willing to look at you? So let’s move forward and let’s get past the gripes of yesterday and make this better and do better as people. If I’ve done something to offend you, like I said earlier, if some of this is mine to own, I own my half, do you own yours?”
Harwood has not responded to James’ invitation as of this writing.
Road Dogg Responds To Recent Comments From Dax Harwood
